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UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

for  CITIZENSHIP  and 

PUBLIC  SERVICE 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

MXW  YORK  •   BOSTON  •  CHICAGO  •  DALLAS 

ATLANTA  •    SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •   BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

for  CITIZENSHIP  and 

PUBLIC  SERVICE 


BY 

WILLIAM  H.  ALLEN 

Director,  Institute  for  Public  Service 

Author  of  "Civics  and  Health,"  "Woman's  Part  in 

Government,"  "Self  Surveys  by  Colleges  and 

Universities,"  "Efficient  Democracy,"  etc. 


5fam  fork 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1919 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1917, 
Bt  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  December,  1917. 


NoriuooO  Ifrtze : 
Berwick  &  Smith  Co.,  Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


<^ 


\   1 


FOREWORD 

Until-after-the-war  is  a  new  word  that  has  vital 
meaning  to  the  world.  Until-after-the-war  is  a  quali- 
fication for  all  our  thinking  and  planning.  We  shall 
fix  maximum  prices  until-after-the-war.  Restaurants 
will  close  at  midnight  until-after-the-war.  Economies 
will  be  enforced  and  business  men  will  advise  the  gov- 
ernment until-after-the-war.  A  celebrated  divine 
issues  a  summer  letter  to  his  parish  suggesting  "  that 
all  alcoholic  beverages  be  banished  from  your  tables 
and  that  you  refrain  from  their  use  "  until-after-the- 
war! 

In  spite  of  warnings  that  we  shall  be  carrying  on 
war  for  generations  to  come,  the  whole  world  refuses 
^  to  plan  farther  ahead  than  until-after-the-war. 
M  Many  of  the  higher  levels  and  higher  tensions  that 
have  been  necessitated  by  the  war  will  be  held  only 
until-after-the-war.  We  cannot  keep  communities  or- 
ganized for  knitting  and  canning.  We  shall  not  con- 
tinue our  mass  meetings  and  parades.  When  peace 
comes  radical  readjustments  in  personal  and  business 
habits  will  seem  immediately  necessary.  Our  patriotic 
ardour  will  cool.     Wartime  spirit  will  gradually  evapo- 


VI  FOREWORD 

rate.  One  of  the  great  problems  for  all  countries  will 
be  how,  while  removing  war's  wreckage,  to  guarantee 
the  permanence  of  its  benefits  and  to  direct  its  momen- 
tum toward  rebuilding  what  war  has  torn  down,  and 
realizing  ideals  which  war  evils  have  disclosed. 

Many  steps  that  are  accepted  as  reasonable  during 
the  war  will  after-the-war  seem  unreasonable  because 
not  so  obviously  necessary.  Some  nations  will  retain 
prohibition ;  others  will  go  back  to  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cants and  fight  out  the  issue  of  prohibition  on  the  basis 
of  normal  forces.  Some  nations  will  retain  the  gov- 
ernmental control  and  ownership  which  have  seemed 
clearly  indispensable  for  the  prosecution  of  war ;  others 
will  go  back  to  private  ownership  and  begin  again  the 
debate  about  the  exact  proportions  of  public  and  pri- 
vate control  which  are  best  suited  to  encourage  citi- 
zens in  activity  and  fairness. 

To  formulate  for  lay-students  of  public  affairs  cer- 
tain minimum  aims  and  steps  which  are  entirely  with- 
in the  reach  of  the  general  public  is  the  purpose  of  this 
book.  It  is  not  for  specialists  although  it  lists  ways 
in  which  the  country  can  secure  public-spirited  service 
from  its  specialists  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war. 

There  is  no  suggestion  here  which  a  layman  can- 
not count  among  minimum  essentials  for  himself  to 
know  and  to  require.  Any  reader  who  wants  further 
information  can  quickly  secure  it.  Any  one  who  pos- 
sesses what  is  here  digested  will  have  a  good  start  in 


FOREWORD  Vll 

training  for  citizenship  and  public  service.  He  will 
see  that  the  end  of  the  war  will  be  but  a  signal  for  new 
patriotism  to  apply  what  it  has  so  painfully  learned 
about  the  menace  of  untrained  patriotism  and  the 
cost  of  unpreparedness  for  citizenship. 

No  attempt  is  made  to  forecast  the  ultimate  settle- 
ment of  issues  regarding  which  there  seems  to  be  a 
reasonable  basis  for  division  among  public  spirited  citi- 
zens. No  one  can  be  sure  about  the  when,  the  what, 
and  the  how  of  the  next  steps  in  settling  controversial 
questions.  Effort  has  therefore  been  confined  to  list- 
ing aims  and  next  steps  that  are  feasible  everywhere 
and  at  once. 

Names  and  addresses  of  private  centres  of  informa- 
tion have  been  omitted,  partly  because  names  and  ad- 
dresses frequently  change,  and  partly  because  the  habit 
of  looking  to  a  few  sources  of  information  is  among 
the  minimum  essentials  of  trained  citizenship.  The 
efficient  citizen  would  better  look  for  names  in  a  city  or 
telephone  directory  than  carry  about  a  home  compiled 
directory.  For  information  about  schools  the  short 
cut  is  to  send  questions  to  the  national  bureau  of  educa- 
tion or  to  state  departments  of  education.  For  health 
facts  it  is  best  to  look  to  the  national  children's  bureau 

i 

and  to  local  and  state  health  departments.  In  the  field 
of  volunteer  civic  work  there  are  a  few  centres  which 
may  always  be  counted  upon  to  act  as  switchboard  cen- 
tral, and  either  to  answer  promptly  any  question  or 


Vlll  FOREWORD 

to  connect  the  questioner  with  the  answer.  These  cen- 
tres of  information  include  your  favourite  newspaper 
or  magazine,  your  local  library,  the  municipal  refer- 
ence library  of  New  York  City,  the  Wisconsin  state 
legislative  reference  library  at  Madison,  The  Survey 
and  The  American  City,  both  at  New  York  City. 

In  addition  to  minimum  essentials  that  are  necessary 
in  training  privates  for  citizenship,  the  reader  will 
find  other  minimum  essentials  which  citizens  should 
require  of  training  for  drillmasters,  for  entering  and 
remaining  in  public  and  semi-public  service,  and  for 
the  professions.  Three  further  chapters  indicate 
the  country's  need  for  specialized  training  for  parent- 
hood, for  public-spirited  use  of  special  gifts,  and  for 
creative  imagination  and  devoted  attention  in  using 
war's  lessons  after-the-war. 

At  no  time  in  our  history  has  it  been  so  necessary, 
for  all  of  us  to  think  nationally,  constructively,  co- 
operatively, and  with  a  desire  for  service,  as  it  will  be 
after-the-war. 

For  such  nationwide  co-operation  universal  training 
for  citizenship  and  public  service  is  needed  and  is  prac- 
ticable. 

William  H.  Allen. 

October  i,  19 17. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Foreword v 

I    The    New    Patriotism's    Commencement 

Day i 

II    The  Menace  of  Untrained  Patriotism     .  16 

III  The  Cost  of  Unpreparedness      ....  22 

IV  Universal  Training  for  Citizenship   Is 

Possible 3° 

V    Training  Privates  for  Minimum  Essen- 
tials      37 

VI    Training  for  Volunteer  Civic  Work  .      .     84 
VII     Training  for  Drillmasters  and  Teachers  115 

VIII     Special  Training  for  Leadership  in  Civic 

Work 125 

IX    Training  for  Entrance  to  Civil  Service  .   145 
X    Training  for  the  Professions    .     .     .     .164 

XI    Training  for  Continuance  in  Public  and 

Quasi-Public  Service 182 

XII    Specialized  Training  for  Parenthood  .     .  201 

XIII  Training  of  the  Specially  Gifted  .     .     .  230 

XIV  L'Avenir  Est  Magnifique 262 


Universal  Training  for 
Citizenship  and  Public  Service 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   NEW    PATRIOTISM'S   COMMENCEMENT   DAY 

The  most  beautiful  epitome  of  Democracy's 
achievement  and  promise  is  our  American  public 
school  Commencement  Day.  Year  after  year  neigh- 
bourhoods experience  this  spiritual  reawakening  with 
results  that  surpass  any  benefits  obtainable  from  our 
universities,  great  as  they  are.  Stop  universities,  and 
these  humble  public  school  commencement  days  would 
generate  new  universities  over  night;  stop  these  com- 
mencement days  and  Democracy  must  begin  its  fight 
anew. 

Children  of  rich  and  poor  sit  indistinguishably  side 
by  side.  Parents  and  grandparents  of  all  countries 
and  all  incomes,  younger  and  older  children,  and  not 
infrequently  infants  in  arms,  make  up  the  responsive 
audience.  The  stars  and  stripes  are  draped  over  the 
stage  and  about  figures  of  speech;  national  anthems 
are  sung  by  young  and  old;  graduates  sing,  speak, 


2  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

dance  and  beam  with  appreciation,  ambition  and  con- 
fidence. After  eight  or  twelve  years  of  undramatic, 
tiring  routine,  and  of  home  sacrifices  that  are  no  less 
taxing  because  hidden  from  the  world,  this  dramatic 
climax  in  tears  and  smiles  of  joy  and  gratitude  is  called 
Commencement  Day. 

The  juniors  whose  turn  comes  next  year  and  the 
next  feel  that  it  should  be  called  ending  day.  But 
active  participants  in  the  drama  of  relief,  revelation 
and  hopefulness  are  glad  it  is  called  Commencement 
Day, —  the  beginning  of  a  new  cycle  of  trying  and  do- 
ing, not  only  by  the  graduate,  but  by  his  family  and 
by  the  locality  whose  justification  for  supporting  free 
schools  is  that  they  will  make  citizens  imbued  with  the 
motto :  Enter  to  learn,  Leave  to  serve. 

Most  levelling  processes  level  down;  not  so  our 
public  school  Commencement  Day,  which  always  levels 
up.  Broker  and  banker  applaud  the  barber's  boy  who 
leads  his  class.  The  Yiddish  grandfather  of  the  class 
president  sees  the  same  vista  ahead  as  the  New  Eng- 
land grandmother  of  the  graceful  girl  who  leads  the 
folk  dances,  and  both  look  with  the  idealistic  vision 
of  the  graduates  themselves.  Careful  mothers  forget 
their  pride  in  their  own  children  as  the  once  harum- 
scarum  daughter  of  the  neighbourhood  drunkard 
moves  the  audience  by  her  character  and  her  confident 
idealism  so  courageously  maintained,  while  hardened 
men  gulp  as  the  joy-sobered  father  timidly  and  with 


THE   NEW    PATRIOTISM'S    COMMENCEMENT   DAY       3 

tear-filled  eyes  thanks  the  principal  for  "  all  you  have 
done  for  my  girl." 

For  a  world  of  nations  the  end  of  the  war  of 
1914-17  will  bring  emotions  akin  to  our  Commence- 
ment Day  emotion.  No  matter  what  the  details  of 
the  outcome  may  be,  America  has  promised  itself  and 
all  humanity  that  the  outcome  shall  spell  democratic 
opportunity,  shall  "  make  the  world  safe  for  Democ- 
racy," and  "  Democracy  safe  for  the  world."  Un- 
fortunately the  world  has  no  other  single  roof  except 
the  sky  under  which  to  celebrate  with  a  single  pro- 
gram of  song  and  thanksgiving  its  completion  of  this 
grave  cycle  of  effort  and  sacrifice.  It  will  sing  the 
song  just  the  same,  and  will  shout  and  breathe  its 
thanksgiving.  Peace  will  bring  a  new  day,  Com- 
mencement Day,  for  the  new  patriotism.  We  see  it 
coming;  as  a  nation  we  should  have  our  commence- 
ment dresses  and  addresses  and  diplomas  and  next 
steps  ready.  The  only  readiness  for  universal  oppor- 
tunity is  universal  training  for  service,  and  the  only 
service  which  will  breathe  the  new  patriotism  is  the 
service  of  citizenship  for  and  with  our  fellow  citizens. 

For  the  first  time  in  our  history,  we  find  ourselves 
thinking  of  our  individual  patriotism  as  a  world  force. 
As  was  recently  written  of  the  "  war  as  critic,"  the 
chief  moral  result  of  the  war  thus  far  is  that  it  has 
"  shattered  the  egocentric  universe  "  and  has  helped 
and  compelled  us  all,  tutored  and  untutored,  poor  and 


4  UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

rich,  self-centred  as  well  as  altruistic,  to  live  "  at  the 
centre  of  the  world."  The  fact  that  some  of  us  are 
taking  advantage  of  the  situation  for  selfish  ends  and 
are  even  at  times  polluting  the  sources  of  public  in- 
formation is  not  escaping  public  attention  and  only 
brings  into  bolder  relief  the  patriotic  unselfishness  and 
self-abnegation  which  mark  the  rank  and  file.  The 
unforgettable  fact  is  that  the  people  themselves  have 
the  vision  without  which  peoples  perish. 

A  new  content  is  given  to  our  patriotism,  which  from 
now  on  will  mean  much  more  than  love  of  one's  home, 
one's  district,  one's  college,  one's  country  or  vain- 
glorious pride  in  our  bigness,  our  tallest  skyscrapers, 
our  fastest  express  trains,  our  largest  farms,  our 
cleverest  inventors,  our  generous  immigration  policy, 
our  lavish  expenditures  for  education.  Today's  pa- 
triotism has  less  of  pride  and  more  of  obligation.  It 
is  the  patriotism  of  ideas,  idealism  and  duty  rather 
than  of  geography,  material  possession  and  achieve- 
ment. Race  lines  are  abolished,  district  lines  are 
wiped  out,  oceans  join  where  before  they  separated. 
Traditions  of  centuries  are  made  over  until  they  are 
as  old  in  association  and  as  new  in  detail  as  Lincoln's 
jackknife.  To  the  world  of  non-combatants  and  com- 
batants alike,  to  the  soldiers  and  masses  of  both  sides, 
patriotism  has  grown  to  mean  obligation  leavened  with 
willingness  to  make  sacrifices  for  the  freedom  of  na- 
tions and  of  fellowmen  within  nations. 


THE   NEW    PATRIOTISM'S    COMMENCEMENT   DAY       5 

Where  yesterday  patriotism  was  saying,  "  Why 
don't  they  do  something? "  today  it  is  asking,  "  Why 
can't  /  do  something?     What  can  I  do? ,; 

Individual  and  family  dreams  of  opportunity  and 
worthwhileness  have  become  living  realities.  Every- 
day people  are  feeling  as  poets  feel  and  talking  as 
poets  talk.  In  fact,  one  of  the  phenomena  of  this 
wartime  is  the  discovery  by  poets  of  all  nations  that 
their  thoughts  and  feelings  differ  so  little  from  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  humblest  private  in  the 
trenches  and  the  humblest  parent  at  home  that  being  a 
poet  is  no  distinction  and  gives  no  privileges.  In  every 
walk  of  life  men  and  women  and  children  who  read 
today's  story  of  struggles  abroad  and  of  plannings  at 
home  find  themselves  dramatizing  history,  philosophy 
and  religion.  Everybody  has  become  an  economist,  a 
sociologist,  a  statesman.  Mind,  heart  and  body  of  in- 
dividuals, communities  and  nations  join  and  radiate  as 
one  unit  in  their  definition  of  what  humanity  owes 
humanity. 

The  supreme  call  to  service  has  found  our  nation 
supremely  susceptible  to  Democracy's  appeal:  never 
was  the  slacker  so  unpopular  or  so  rare,  never  so  dis- 
satisfied with  himself,  and  never  so  impoverished  for 
plausible  explanation.  With  exceptions  which  only 
accentuate  the  rule,  we  are  echoing  the  sentiments  of 
the  father  who  travelled  from  his  Kentucky  mountain 
home  to  a  New  York  court  room  to  tell  the  judge  that 


6  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

his  boy's  refusal  to  register  had  been  an  unaccountable 
mistake  which  would  be  promptly  rectified  because 
"  there  ain't  never  been  no  slacker  in  our  family." 

The  scrubwoman  of  the  city  skyscraper  coming  to 
work  at  sunrise,  the  isolated  farm  wife  whose  work  is 
never  done,  and  the  former  woman  spendthrift  of 
time  and  money  are  forgetting  the  non-essentials  that 
made  them  different,  and  are  giving  time  to  the  essen- 
tials that  now  make  them  alike.  Opera  singers,  band 
leaders,  architects  and  sportsmen  give  up  their  special- 
ties and  dig  trenches,  carry  a  gun,  manage  an  airship  or 
perhaps  entertain  the  soldier  boys  in  home  barracks  and 
foreign  trenches.  The  multimillionaire  foregoes  prof- 
its or  in  his  heart  welcomes  a  national  tax  on  his  ex- 
cess profits,  gives  up  his  vacation  to  serve  on  the  Coun- 
cil for  National  Defence,  and  finds  new  happiness  in 
work  that  brings  no  preferment.  The  soulless  cor- 
poration buys  Liberty  Bonds  and  declares  special  divi- 
dends for  the  Red  Cross.  Two  thousand  "  practical 
conservative  "  merchants  at  luncheon  applaud  the  fi- 
nancier who  ringingly  declares  "  we  must  consider  our 
time  and  our  capacities  subject  to  selective  conscrip- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  government,  unconditionally 
and  upon  the  shortest  notice." 

To  revolutionary  proposals  by  Congress  and  the 
President  the  nation  has  adjusted  itself  almost  with- 
out a  creak.  Governmental  restrictions  and  concen- 
tration of  authority  heretofore  considered  un-Ameri- 


THE    NEW    PATRIOTISM'S    COMMENCEMENT   DAY        J 

can  have  been  accepted  as  the  very  essence  of  Ameri- 
can patriotism.  We  are  to  limit  prices  at  which 
private  individuals  may  sell  food,  coal  and  munitions, 
not  only  to  the  government,  but  "  to  the  people  who 
are  now  as  much  a  part  of  the  government  as  the 
army  and  navy  themselves."  We  are  to  tax  excess 
profits,  prevent  the  diversion  of  food  grains  to  the 
making  of  whiskey,  stop  shipments  of  food  and  coal 
to  high  bidding  neutrals,  take  one-third  of  larger  in- 
comes, and  censor  mail,  telegrams  and  cables.  Further 
innovations  are  locally  enforced  and  patriotically  sub- 
mitted to :  women  may  not  enter  places  where  liquor  is 
sold;  saloons  are  closed  at  the  early  hour  of  10  p.  m. 
and  opened  not  till  the  late  hour  of  8  a.  m.  ;  suburban- 
ites accept  without  a  grumble  material  reductions  in 
the  number  of  passenger  trains  in  order  that  railroads 
may  free  their  tracks  for  freight.  And  not  only  have 
the  so-called  radical  elements  approved  these  steps,  but 
so-called  conservative  elements  have  demanded  them. 
Unexcitable  editors  and  capitalists  have  vied  with  ex- 
citable theorists  in  the  assertion  that  these  radical  steps 
are  needed. 

If  the  halting  of  voluntary  enlistment  to  the  army 
and  navy  seems  an  exception,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  tardiness  of  many  to  enlist  is  partly  due  to 
sincere  belief  that  our  entering  the  war  was  wrong, 
and  largely  due  to  the  early  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
this  is  a  national,  not  an  individual  problem,  and  that 


8  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

a  broader  basis  for  recruiting  field  forces  must  be 
found  than  the  individual's  own  choice  or  judgment 
as  to  whether  it  is  better  for  him  to  work  in  factory, 
store,  airship  or  trench. 

For  injecting  ideals  of  service  by  ourselves  as  indi- 
viduals into  our  present  definition  of  patriotism,  the 
terrible  war  has  earned  our  gratitude.  Even  after 
small  towns  and  great  cities,  working  classes  and 
leisure  classes  had  alike  outdone  all  expectations  in 
spontaneous  organization  for  selling  Liberty  Bonds  and 
aiding  the  Red  Cross,  we  found  it  difficult  to  believe 
what  was  being  enacted  right  before  our  own  eyes 
and  with  our  own  participation.  For  two  billion  dol- 
lars of  Liberty  Bonds,  over  three  billion  was  sub- 
scribed ;  toward  one  hundred  million  requested  for  Red 
Cross  work,  one  hundred  eighteen  million  was  sub- 
scribed, and  through  it  all  we  were  talking  of  the  sec- 
ond call  soon  to  come ! 

Nor  were  the  prompt  replies  to  calls  for  service  lim- 
ited to  women  of  leisure,  social  workers,  engineers, 
doctors  and  business  men;  on  the  contrary,  public 
officers  and  employes  who  were  already  carrying  more 
than  reasonable  loads  took  on  heavy  extra  duties.  At 
10.30  o'clock  in  the  morning  a  health  department  was 
asked  if  it  could  furnish  the  government  food  com- 
mission with  certain  facts  about  the  maximum  price 
which  bakers  can  pay  for  flour  and  still  return  to  the 
poor  man  the  pound  of  bread  for  five  cents;  at  11 


THE    NEW    PATRIOTISM  S    COMMENCEMENT    DAY  9 

o'clock  that  same  morning,  fifty  health  inspectors  had 
been  detailed  to  secure  within  twenty- four  hours,  in- 
formation from  five  hundred  small  bakers.  Similarly, 
a  director  of  public  school  instruction  in  cooking  im- 
mediately asked  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  cooking 
teachers  each  to  see  three  neighbourhood  bakers. 
After  it  became  clear  that  we  must  equip  ourselves  for 
war,  the  suggestion  had  hardly  been  made  that  the 
schools  might  help  before  veritably  millions  of  children 
in  elementary  and  high  schools,  country  and  city,  were 
doing  their  bits  with  needle  and  with  hoe.  Except  for 
the  details,  ten  thousand  schools  might  duplicate  the 
accompanying  story  of  two  months'  work  by  one 
school. 

Another  manifestation  of  this  new  patriotism 
promises  much  for  Democracy :  namely,  the  attitude  of 
the  country's  newspapers  after  neutrality  was  aban- 
doned. Papers,  which  for  over  two  years  had  openly 
sympathized  with  the  Central  Powers  and  openly 
criticized  the  Allies,  instantly  discontinued  all  such 
partisanship  and  became  earnestly  pro-American,  even 
though  at  times  reluctantly  pro-Ally.  Editors  who 
until  the  last  minute  wrote  and  spoke  to  their  utmost 
to  prevent  our  declaration  that  war  existed  "  of  Ger- 
many's making  "  promptly  bowed  to  the  congressional 
majority  and  henceforth  not  only  suppressed  their  per- 
sonal convictions,  but  consistently  supported  govern- 
ment policies.     Moreover,  during  the  very  weeks  when 


Some  of  the  Patriotic  Activities 

of 

One  Girls'  High  School  Somewhere  in  America 

Sewing:    (Under  the  direction  of  Miss  A) 
1036  hospital  bed  shirts 
356  pajama  coats 
356  pajama  trousers 

38  surgeons'   operating  gowns 
420  convalescent  robes 

2206  garments 
250  pairs  bed  socks 

120  Red  Cross  flags   (about  40  large  ones  for  base  hospi- 
tals and  the  rest  smaller  ones  for  the  ambulances) 
Knitting:      (Under  the  direction  of  Miss  B) 

400  articles   completed,   including  49  sleeveless   jackets,   19 
prs.   socks,   scarfs,   wash   cloths,   sponges,   chin   band- 
ages,  etc.    All   cotton   articles   have   been   laundered 
by  our  girls  before  they  were  sent  away 
Raising  of  food  plants:     (Under  the  direction  of  Miss  C) 

Hundreds  of  little  plants  have  been  started  and  made  ready 
for  transplanting,  including  cabbage,  tomato,  lettuce, 
parsley,  endive,  pepper,  egg  plants,  etc 
Ambulance  fund:     (Under  the  direction  of  Miss  D) 

Whirlwind    campaign    raised    enough    money    for    the    am- 
bulance,   the    cost   of    transportation    and   has    left    a 
balance  of  $69.61   which  has  been  placed  in  Savings 
Bank  to  the  credit  of  Ambulance  Fund 
Fracture  pillows:     (Under  the  direction  of  Miss  E) 

200  fracture  pillows  completed 
Liberty  bonds:     (Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  F) 

About  $25,000  worth  purchased  through  school  savings 
bank,  of  which  the  girls  subscribed  for  $6,000  and 
the  teachers  for  $19,000.  Teachers  also  subscribed 
for  about  $10,000  worth  of  bonds  through  other 
agencies 
Money  contributed  by  teachers  and  students  to  the  Red  Cross 

work  —  about  $1100 
The  posters  of  the  Art  girls  and  clerical  work  at  Red  Cross 
Headquarters  of  our  Library  and  Commercial  girls, 
should  also  be  mentioned 
10 


THE    NEW    PATRIOTISM'S    COMMENCEMENT   DAY        II 

Congress  was  threatening  to  tax  newspapers,  as  they 
believed  unreasonably  and  to  the  nation's  injury,  these 
threatened  petitioners  gave  advertising  space  worth 
millions  upon  millions  of  dollars  to  promote  the  sale 
of  Liberty  Bonds,  and  by  a  masterful  educative  cam- 
paign convinced  the  nation  that  the  government's  pro- 
posal to  limit  free  discussion  of  governmental  policies 
and  possible  governmental  blunders  would  injure  the 
people  and  obstruct  the  very  end  that  it  was  designed  to 
further. 

Three  other  facts  about  this  new  patriotism  bear 
upon  our  program  of  universal  training  for  citizenship 
and  public  service: 

(i)  There  is  no  higher  form  of  patriotism  and  no 
better  evidence  of  previous  training  for  citizenship 
than  is  shown  when  those  who  do  not  yet  agree 
with  the  nation's  leaders  or  with  the  majority  of 
fellow  citizens  frankly,  forcefully  and  persistently 
voice  their  questions,  protests  and  suggestions. 

(2)  In  every  walk  of  life,  men,  women  and  children 
are  early  and  late  discussing  individual  duty  and 
national  obligation. 

(3)  Because  the  new  patriotism  emphasizes  obligation 
and  opportunity  rather  than  rights,  it  will  reduce 
to  a  minimum  the  rancor  and  resentment  that  must 
outlive  the  return  of  peace. 

Where  patriots  acknowledge  no  differences  of 
opinion  there  can  be  but  little  progress  and  but  a  shal- 


12  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

low  and  fickle  patriotism.  Any  nation  which  confesses 
that  it  will  reap  benefits  from  war,  in  spite  of  —  yea  — 
because  of  war's  horrors,  must  also  freely  admit  that 
it  will  profit  from  frank  expression  of  opposition  to 
that  war  and  frank  challenge  of  majority  statements. 
The  discipline  in  listening,  analysing  and  arguing  which 
is  being  gained  by  those  who  have  heard  the  minority 
view  will  prove  to  be  one  of  the  country's  greatest 
assets  in  the  building  up  days  of  peace.  For  example, 
a  family  which  has  five  cousins  at  the  front  in  France 
was  visited  by  a  university  professor  during  the  time 
when  the  United  States  was  neutral.  The  boy  of  ten 
asks,  "  On  what  side  are  you,  uncle?  "  The  professor 
answers:  "  1  think  I'm  neutral;  I  am  sorry  to  dis- 
cover, however,  that  most  other  people  think  me 
strongly  pro-German."  Thereafter  follows  a  discus- 
sion of  the  war's  origin,  the  position  of  the  great 
nations  before  the  bar  of  history,  their  present  and 
future  economic  status,  their  respective  means  of  pub- 
licity, etc,  which  those  children  can  never  forget  and 
which  will  make  it  easier  for  them  to  meet  personal  and 
national  crises  with  attempts  at  straight  thinking  based 
upon  careful  analysis  of  facts  rather  than  upon  plaus- 
ible special  pleading. 

The  desire  to  do  one's  part  at  whatever  sacrifice  of 
time,  money  and  life  which  today  is  almost  universal  in 


THE    NEW    PATRIOTISM'S    COMMENCEMENT   DAY        1 3 

our  land,  is  one  of  those  great  emotions  without  which 
the  historian  Taine  says  "  no  man  has  done  great 
things."  Nor  has  any  nation  as  a  nation  done  great 
things  without  great  emotion,  even  though  nations  as 
such  have  now  and  then  profited  by  great  things  done 
by  individuals  with  and  because  of  great  emotions. 
Shocking  as  is  the  thought  that  any  good  can  come 
from  such  unspeakable  wrongs  as  this  world  war,  yet 
the  fair  mind  would  say  that  it  were  better  to  endure 
the  wrongs  than  forego  the  effects. 

Better  still  is  the  suggestion  which  is  taking  deeper 
root  every  day  in  the  emotions  of  all  races,  that  without 
the  horrors  of  war  there  is  a  way  of  achieving  effects 
superior  to  any  which  this  war  will  bring.  As  Bernard 
Shaw  said  a  few  years  ago  about  San  Francisco's  blun- 
dering attempts  to  improve  her  government  and  her 
final  resort  to  an  earthquake :  "  It  was  undoubtedly 
efficacious,  but  the  trouble  is  that  earthquakes  are  un- 
reliable." Wars,  too,  are  unreliable.  We  cannot 
afford  to  wait  for  world  wars  to  gain  any  benefits  the 
human  mind  can  picture.  No  benefit  from  this  twen- 
tieth century  war  is  more  important  than  its  proof  that 
to  prepare  nations  and  all  mankind  against  the  recur- 
rence of  war  is  an  infinitely  greater  service  than  to 
prepare  for  a  possible  next  war. 

Can  we  use  these  new  ideals  ?     Can  we  reservoir  our 


14  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

new  emotions  for  higher  citizenship  and  public  serv- 
ice? The  hearts  of  all  of  us  will  echo  the  following 
sentiments  from  the  New  York  Evening  Post: 

"  We  should  hate  to  think  that  the  enthusiasm  and  zeal 
which  prompted  these  notable  endeavours  will  pass  away 
with  the  special  emergency.  The  question  we  cannot  too 
soon  begin  asking  is  whether  the  country  cannot  keep  on, 
after  the  war,  utilizing  these  vast  forces  for  the  public 
weal  of  whose  existence  we  were  almost  unaware.  .  .  . 

"  Looked  at  from  a  just  standpoint,  the  labours  to  be 
undertaken  when  the  war  ends  will  be  as  important  and 
appealing  as  those  imposed  by  its  continuance.  There 
will  be  a  vast  work  of  readjustment  to  grapple  with.  It 
will  extend  to  many  fields  —  financial,  industrial,  social, 
political.  It  is  a  commonplace  that  the  world  can  never 
be  the  same  after  this  disintegrating  and  distorting  war. 
It  will  have  to  be  made  over.  America  as  well  as  Europe 
will  have  to  tackle  an  enormous  job  of  reconstruction. 
Men  cannot  wring  their  hands  and  say :  "  Well,  God 
mend  all !  "  In  the  spirit  of  the  old  Puritan  they  must 
cry  out:  "  Nay,  but  we'll  help  Him  to  mend  it."  If  the 
United  States  is  now  assured  that  it  possesses  a  stock  of 
unused  talent,  ready  to  spend  itself  for  the  common 
good,  it  is  certain  that  all  of  it  can  be  worthily  employed 
in  the  coming  days  of  peace." 

Can  we  devise  means  of  universal  education  and 
training  which  we  can  use  like  thermos  bottles  and 
refrigerating  plants  for  conserving  methods  and  con- 
victions that  make  for  higher  citizenship  and  public 
service?     Our  answer  is  a  frank  admission  that  it  will 


THE   NEW    PATRIOTISM'S    COMMENCEMENT   DAY       1 5 

be  impossible  to  keep  up  our  wartime  tension;  that  as 
school  graduates  crave  forget  fulness  of  the  trappings 
and  suits  of  school  routine,  so  on  the  Commencement 
Day  marked  by  peace  our  country  will  crave  forget  ful- 
ness of  the  trappings  and  the  suits  of  war  including 
universal  military  training  itself;  but  that  neverthe- 
less there  are  major  lessons  which  can  be  permanently 
stored  and  utilized  for  universal  and  progressive  appli- 
cation. 

These  permanent  lessons  are  grouped  in  the  follow- 
ing chapters  under  thirteen  heads  which  in  turn  express 
four  minimum  essentials,  four  convictions  which  every 
citizen  who  understands  simple  English  words  can 
adopt  as  a  working  program : 

(i)  No  country  is  rich  enough  or  strong  enough  to 
rely  upon  untrained  patriotism. 

(2)  Universal  training  for  citizenship  and  public 
service  is  possible. 

(3)  Every  citizen  can  be  trained  not  only  to  acquire 
for  himself  the  minimum  essentials  for  privates, 
but  to  demand  definite  and  exacting  minimum  stan- 
dards for  five  other  citizen  groups, —  drill  masters 
and  teachers,  civil  servants,  the  learned  profes- 
sions, parents,  and  the  specially  gifted. 

(4)  L'avenir  est  magnifique  —  the  future  is  glorious  — 
but  that  glory  must  be  achieved  not  stumbled  into, 
must  be  consciously  worked  for  as  an  ideal  of 
equal  opportunity  for  all  to  become  efficient  as 
citizens  and  servers. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   MENACE   OF    UNTRAINED   PATRIOTISM 

The  idealist  finds  it  hard  to  face  the  fact  that  an 
obligation  so  personal  and  an  emotion  so  spiritual  as 
patriotism  need  training.  We  appreciate  the  feeling 
that  before  our  country's  flag  we  are  all  equals  in 
devotion.  We  are  thrilled  to  new  confidence  in  our 
own  destiny  when  a  presidential  message  tells  us  that 
while  we  cannot  all  bear  arms,  we  are,  nevertheless  "  all 
equal  in  ability  to  use  our  all  of  mind  and  body  and 
means  for  our  country's  good."  We  dread  the  creep- 
ing power  of  standardization,  which  like  the  travelling 
glacier  conquers  one  territory  after  another  of  human 
activity  for  "  economy  and  efficiency  "  and  ever  after 
requires  a  certificate  for  admission.  We  want  some 
place  in  our  life  for  spontaneous  unregulated  idealism. 

Trained  patriotism !     Are  we  then  headed  toward  a 

national  demand  for  trained  love  of  one's  own  flesh 

and  blood,  trained  loyalty  to  one's  co-workers,  trained 

gratitude   for  favours   received,   trained   response  to 

beauty,  trained  integrity,  trained  humanity?     We  are, 

and  for  a  long,  long  time  we  have  been  headed  toward 

16 


THE    MENACE   OF  UNTRAINED   PATRIOTISM  1 7 

special  training  for  enjoyment  and  use  of  all  God-given 
and  man-discovered  powers.  And  without  being  fully 
conscious  of  it,  we  have  in  many  ways  and  places  been 
recognizing  the  need  for  trained  patriotism  and  the 
menace  of  untrained  patriotism. 

History  teems  with  proof  that  patriotism  can  spill 
over,  evaporate,  burst  its  pipes,  miss  its  mark,  be 
wasted,  injure  where  it  longs  to  help. 

Our  boys  in  blue  were  as  patriotic  when  they  were 
being  stricken  down  by  Cuba's  typhoid  fever  as  when 
winning  San  Juan's  Hill.  The  earlier  boys  in  blue 
while  running  in  disorder  from  the  enemy,  with  Sher- 
idan twenty  miles  away,  were  just  as  patriotic  as  when 
a  few  minutes  later  defeating  the  enemy  behind  Sher- 
idan returned  from  Winchester. 

Misled  patriotism  filled  up  the  sunken  road  of 
Waterloo  with  French  heroes  while  English  patriotism 
was  taking  advantage  of  that  catastrophe. 

Unequally  trained  European  patriotism  gave  unequal 
results  in  19 14,  and  precipitated  a  devastating  world 
war:  procrastinating  patriotism  caught  England  nap- 
ping, unprepared,  incompetent  and  wasteful;  grafting 
officials  left  French  and  Russian  patriotism  unduly 
open  to  attack;  misinformed  patriotism  led  the  Ru- 
manians into  a  trap  of  their  own  making.  It  was  lack 
of  preparedness  to  see  straight  that  produced  the 
English  slacker  and  prompted  the  English  labour  union 


l8  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

to  strike  for  higher  wages  at  a  time  when  war  threat- 
ened their  power  to  earn  any  wages.  It  was  blind- 
folded patriotism  that  led  German  and  Austrian  fath- 
ers and  mothers  to  demand  a  war  of  frightfulness  in 
the  name  of  freedom  and  to  idealize  poems  of  hate 
when  in  their  hearts  they  have  piteously  yearned  for 
respect  and  love. 

Patriotism  exposed  to  smallpox  and  other  plagues 
decimated  armies  until  vaccination  and  modern  sanita- 
tion made  it  healthier  to  be  in  bivouacs  than  in  fac- 
tories, schools,  or  homes. 

Farmers  were  just  as  patriotic  when  they  asked  the 
moon  about  planting  crops  as  they  are  today  when 
they  know  the  essential  facts  about  grains  and  soils  and 
sequence  of  crops. 

American  patriotism  for  thirty-two  years  left  the 
Statue  of  Liberty  —  gift  of  sacrifice  and  gratitude  from 
the  children  of  France  —  unlighted  for  want  of  funds, 
while  we  were  pouring  tens  of  millions  a  year  into 
"  pork  barrels  "  and  other  government  extravagances. 

Philadelphia  when  corrupt  and  tainted  was  patriotic 
even  though  pitifully  benighted. ' 

Intoxication  does  not  reduce  a  man's  patriotism,  but 
does  annihilate  the  value  of  his  patriotism  and  make  a 
menace  of  it. 

With  its  eyes  open,  patriotism  would  never  vote 
against  its  own  interest,  yet  misguided  patriotism  has 


THE    MENACE   OF   UNTRAINED    PATRIOTISM  19 

repeatedly  placed  in  power  men  who  only  robbed  and 
hampered  their  publics  and  prosperity. 

Patriotism  can  be  unhappy  from  disappointment, 
from  loss  of  opportunity,  from  experiencing  the 
tragedy  of  defeat. 

"  There  is  many  a  hero  in  the  losing  fight 
And  as  gallant  deeds  are  done 
As  ever  graced  a  captured  height 
Or  a  battle  grandly  won." 

Untrained  patriotism  invites  destructive  spring 
freshets  and  floods  and  summer  droughts  and  hurri- 
canes. It  is  as  necessary  to  build  reservoirs  and  dikes 
for  our  patriotism  as  it  is  to  restrict  and  train  the 
waters  of  Ohio's  rivers  to  serve  without  destroying. 

The  willingness  to  delegate  constitutional  powers  of 
self-government,  freedom  of  discussion  and  leadership 
in  thought  to  popularly  elected  officers  or  self-appointed 
committees  which  may  be  a  necessity  of  patriotism  in 
war,  would  be  an  unmitigated  menace  in  peace  times. 

The  immigrant  who  comes  to  this  country  with 
yearning  and  confidence  seldom  equalled  in  those 
whose  love  of  America  is  not  born  of  struggle,  obstacle 
and  suffering  —  the  illiterate  who  passionately  yearns 
for  freedom's  liberty  for  herself  and  her  children  — 
often  has  more  patriotism  than  the  highly  literate 
American  born  when  sated  with  opportunities.  What 
we  have  done  to  our  immigrants  from  southern  Europe 


20  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

who  stopped  in  our  cities  is  a  greater  menace  to  our 
institutions  than  anything  they  have  yet  done  to  us. 
For  want  of  timely  training  we  too  often  convert  the 
potential  patriotism  of  immigrants  into  actual  license 
that  menaces  the  land  which  these  new  neighbours 
came  to  worship. 

Patriotism  is  altogether  too  big  and  too  beautiful  a 
thing  to  be  experienced,  used  and  directed  in  a  blunder- 
ing, hit  or  miss,  catch  as  catch  can,  as  you  like  it,  un- 
trained fashion. 

No  free  people  can  tolerate  in  times  of  peace  the 
social  and  political  restrictions  upon  free  speech  that 
have  characterized  our  war-bred  treatment  of  numer- 
ous sincere  minorities,  such  as  for  example,  the  group 
who  in  19 1 7  insist  that  America  should  not  wage  war 
another  day  without  frankly  stating  its  own  peace 
terms. 

Patriotism  must  not  stop  with  willingness  to  fight 
other  nations  or  with  enthusiasm  for  great  celebra- 
tions. The  patriotism  of  peace  is  nobler  than  the 
patriotism  of  war.  The  patriotism  which  serves  and 
builds  is  greater  than  the  patriotism  which  hurts  and 
destroys.  If  war  patriotism  must  be  trained,  how 
much  greater  is  the  need  for  training  peace  patriotism ! 
Today's  warfare  enthusiasm  will  wane. 

Within  two  years  after  the  war  of  1917  closes,  the 
very  men  and  interests  which  are  now  clamouring  most 
loudly  for  universal  military  service  will  be  organizing 


THE    MENACE   OF   UNTRAINED   PATRIOTISM  21 

nationwide  crusades  against  both  universal  military 
service  and  military  training  in  schools.  Business  will 
resent  the  double  tax  of  furnishing  funds  and  loaning 
employes.  Young  men  will  resent  the  decrease  in 
earning  power  and  lost  vacations.  Women  will  abhor 
the  very  idea  of  preparedness  for  war.  Statesmen  will 
achieve  universal  disarmament.  Like  the  much 
evaded  universal  jury  service  and  the  almost  obsolete 
universal  poll  tax,  the  temporarily  popular  universal 
military  training  and  service  will  become  museum 
pieces,  mere  memories  and  nightmares. 

Preparing  patriotism  for  the  opportunities  and  du- 
ties that  crowd  behind  the  war  clouds,  calls  for  a 
program  of  means  and  ways  of  universal  training  for 
citizenship  and  service. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    COST    OF    UNPREPAREDNESS 

Unpreparedness  might  conceivably  be  a  menace 
without  actually  incurring  cost.  In  real  life,  however, 
unpreparedness  almost  always  does  incur  cost.  Un- 
fortunately it  is  one  of  the  most  common  and  most 
expensive  possessions  man  can  have.  "  When  it  rains 
it's  too  wet  to  mend  and  when  it's  dry  the  roof  don't 
leak,"  is  a  working  principle  that  is  not  monopolized 
by  Arkansas  farmers. 

Unpreparedness  for  war  has  cost  European  nations 
millions  of  lives  and  billions  of  dollars  and  incalculable 
sorrow.  Unpreparedness  for  the  duties  of  peace  is  no 
less  costly,  but  its  costs  are  not  so  graphically  concen- 
trated in  time  and  place. 

Because  a  world  of  nations  are  at  war  we  can  tempo- 
rarily see  what  unpreparedness  for  war  costs.  What 
unpreparedness  for  citizenship  costs  we  can  also  see 
clearly  if  we  will  study  the  army  of  citizens  who  are 
always  at  work  for  one  another's  good  or  ill. 

Against  the  extravagance  of  unpreparedness  for 
everyday  duties  great  teachers  have  waged  war  from 
yEsop  and  Mother  Goose  to  Benjamin  Franklin  and 

22 


THE    COST   OF    UNPREPAREDNESS  23 

Charles  W.  Eliot.  Old  Mother  Hubbard's  dog  went 
hungry,  Fontaine's  grasshopper  sang  and  danced  her- 
self into  starvation,  Poor  Richard  found  that  a  penny- 
saved  is  a  penny  earned,  ex-President  Eliot  shows  that 
those  of  us  are  best  prepared  who  are  trained  to  enjoy 
and  demand  the  "  durable  satisfactions  of  life." 

Everyday  penalties  for  unpreparedness  are  familiar 
to  us. 

How  often  is  a  whole  life  changed  because  the  pupil 
is  not  prepared  for  examination ! 

Many  cities  will  not  outgrow  in  a  decade  evil  reputa- 
tions earned  by  trying  to  entertain  conventions  too  big 
for  their  hotel  accommodations. 

Few  housewives  are  equal  to  company  without  no- 
tice, least  of  all  on  wash  days. 

Appearing  at  work  unshaven  has  cost  many  an  able 
man  promotion. 

Family  and  business  tragedies  result  from  unpre- 
paredness to  pay  mortgages  when  due. 

The  difference  between  notice  and  no  notice  of  an 
after  dinner  speech  is  often  the  difference  between 
humiliation  and  triumph. 

Millions  of  children  are  handicapped  through  life 
because  their  teachers  are  not  prepared  to  teach. 

Get-rich-quick  schemes  and  get-well-quick  remedies 
and  get-reform-quick  promises  are  constantly  swin- 
dling men  and  women  who  are  not  prepared  to  read  the 
story  which  experience  is  trying  to  tell  them. 


24  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

All  the  arguments  for  individual  thrift  that  are  now 
being  persuasively  mobilized  need  to  be  applied  to  the 
nation's  use  of  its  citizens'  powers.  Every  argument 
against  personal  thriftlessness  applies  more  forcibly 
to  a  nation's  failure  to  stop  the  leaks  and  thefts  and 
holocausts  and  floods  due  to  unpreparedness  for  cit- 
izenship. 

Five  thousand  dollars  offered  for  a  pair  of  wild 
pigeons  and  not  a  pair  to  be  found  in  a  country  where 
men  still  young  counted  wild  pigeons  by  millions ! 

Buffalo  rare  even  in  zoological  gardens  and  menag- 
eries where  but  yesterday  they  roamed  the  plains  by 
millions ! 

Seal  skins  a  luxury  almost  out  of  reach  of  million- 
aires; building  woods  more  expensive  than  stone  or 
brick;  print  paper  so  limited  that  newspapers  must 
raise  their  prices  and  curtail  their  news;  two  hundred 
and  fifty  million  dollars  needlessly  lost  each  year  from 
easily  preventable  fires ;  over  a  billion  dollars  lost  each 
year  for  preventable  sickness;  tens  of  thousands  of 
farms  wasted  away  in  their  youth  for  want  of  intelli- 
gent use  and  provident  restoration,  and  all  for  want  of 
a  horse  shoe  nail  of  preparedness. 

Where  mothers  are  not  properly  prepared  to  bear 
and  care  for  babies,  seven  hundred  or  four  hun- 
dred in  one  thousand  babies  die  in  infancy ;  where  some 
mothers  are  trained  and  some  are  untrained  perhaps 
two  hundred  in  a  thousand  babies  die;  but  where  all 


THE   COST   OF   UNPREPAREDNESS  2$ 

mothers  are  trained  not  thirty  in  one  thousand  babies 
die. 

French  labourers  died  like  flies  in  Panama  and 
French  capitalists  lost  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars 
because  unprepared  —  against  what  ?  Against  easily 
starvable  mosquitoes. 

Unpreparedness  to  live  without  wasting  and  with- 
out unnecessary  consumption  almost  brought  Europe's 
war  to  an  end  before  the  working  and  fighting  powers 
of  combatants  were  decided,  just  as  later  our  own  un- 
preparedness to  control  the  distribution  of  food  sent 
food  prices  skyward  and  inflicted  great  suffering  that 
only  national  interference  finally  checked. 

Niagara  was  just  as  patriotic  when  her  waters  roared 
impotently  as  she  is  today  when  harnessed  for  lighting 
cities  and  running  factories. 

For  want  of  preparedness  clubs  of  women,  business 
men  and  educators  let  vast  forces  go  over  the  dam 
unstored  and  undirected  without  furnishing  motive 
power  or  illumination. 

When  unprepared  to  bargain  collectively  the  wage- 
earner  is  at  the  mercy  of  accident  and  the  ruthless  law 
of  competition  and  knows  no  other  way  to  express  his 
protest  except  by  shifting  from  job  to  job,  by  railing 
at  "  the  classes,"  by  destroying  or  injuring  his  em- 
ployer's property,  or  by  giving  sullen  service.  By  pre- 
paredness through  organization,  the  labourer,  as  the 
eighteen  per  cent,  now  organized  are  showing,  can  meet 


26  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

his  employer  face  to  face,  feeling  every  inch  an  equal, 
and  by  collective  bargaining  lift  his  wage  rate  and  him- 
self. 

Industry  is  beginning  to  see  that  it  is  quite  as  im- 
portant to  prepare  its  workers  as  it  is  to  prepare  its 
buildings  and  machinery.  By  preparing  itself  to  un- 
derstand employes,  one  manufacturing  concern  reduced 
its  "  annual  labour  turnover,"  that  is  the  number  of 
hirings,  from  over  55,000  for  14,000  positions  to  only 
5000  a  year.  That  means  that  instead  of  changing 
employes  in  certain  positions  so  many  times  a  year  that 
the  average  number  in  each  position  was  almost  four, 
this  concern  found  how  to  keep  its  employes  so  that 
they  stayed  an  average  of  nearly  three  years  each. 

Another  concern  reduced  the  turnover  in  its  clerical 
division  alone  from  over  600  to  75.  Think  what  such 
preparedness  means  to  business,  when  each  time  an 
employe  is  changed  it  costs  the  business  from  $50  to 
$1,000,  according  to  the  grade  of  work!  Employers 
who  are  eagerly  seeking  ways  to  stop  this  unnecessary 
waste  place  the  annual  loss  to  American  big  business 
because  of  unnecessary  changing  of  employes  at  the 
colossal  total  of  "  billions  a  year." 

The  costs  and  wastes  of  untrained  helpers  are 
familiar.  The  untrained  stenographer  wastes  her  own 
time  and  her  employer's  time,  paper,  money,  opportun- 
ity. The  untrained  cook  wrecks  homes  and  digestions. 
The    untrained    engineer    "  blows-out "    boilers.     Yet 


THE   COST   OF   UNPREPAREDNESS  2,"] 

these  familiar  instances  and  effects  of  unpreparedness 
to  do  the  work  for  which  one  is  paid,  are  of  trifling 
consequence  compared  with  the  cost  of  unpreparedness 
to  do  citizenship's  public  services. 

Indifference  is  oftener  a  result  than  a  cause  of  unpre- 
paredness. Few  people  are  indifferent  to  what  they 
know  well  or  do  well.  The  fire  commissioner  who 
never  tested  the  fire  hose  because  he  "  was  afraid  it 
would  break,"  was  unprepared  before  he  was  indif- 
ferent. The  detective  who  searched  the  lockers  which 
were  open  and  did  not  search  the  closed  lockers  was  not 
trying  to  avoid  evidence  but  had  never  been  properly 
trained  to  search  thoroughly.  It  was  before,  not  after 
he  knew  his  Psalms,  that  a  certain  educator  distressed 
his  mother  by  not  doing  well  in  the  Sunday  school 
competition  for  reciting  the  most  verses  of  Psalms; 
after  he  was  prepared  he  enjoyed  reciting  and  reciting 
and  reciting,  until  they  learned  that  he  knew  "  all  the 
Psalms  and  half  the  Proverbs,"  and  tendered  him 
the  prize  for  preparation  if  he  would  only  stop  recit- 
ing. 

The  penalties  that  a  nation  pays  for  ignorance  and 
undeveloped  sense  of  responsibility  are  infinitely 
greater  than  those  it  pays  for  corrupt  politics  or  ag- 
gressive evil,  because  the  former  furnish  the  soil  and 
the  fertilizer  upon  which  aggressive  evil  thrives. 

The  annual  wastes  of  American  government  in  na- 
tion, state,  county,  city  and  town,  are  greater  than  the 


28  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

combined  annual  interest  charges  paid  out  by  England 
and  Germany  for  the  great  war  at  its  height. 

Franchises  and  lands  worth  more  than  old  world 
principalities  were  given  away  by  all  the  public  to  a 
few  individuals,  and  after  the  value  of  these  gifts 
becamlRnown  too, —  because  citizens  were  not  pre- 
pared to  deal  intelligently  with  the  monopolistic  and 
quasi-monopolistic  privileges  of  furnishing  all  the 
public  with  water,  light,  heat,  power  and  transporta- 
tion. 

Unpreparedness  to  see  straight,  think  straight  and 
build  wisely  with  regard  to  roads  for  marketing  farm 
produce,  has  cost  untold  millions  yearly  and  has  kept 
in  isolation  and  uncontentment  the  agricultural  classes 
upon  whose  prosperity  and  contentment  the  rest  of  us 
must  largely  depend. 

Unpreparedness  to  spend  public  funds  honestly  and 
thriftily  has  led  to  subsidizing  and  fattening  forces  in 
politics  and  business  which  keep  themselves  prepared 
always  to  prey  upon  the  unprepared  public  and  to 
foster  its  unpreparedness. 

Wherever  citizenship  is  unprepared  it  is  easily  stam- 
peded to  hurt  itself;  to  stand  in  its  own  light;  to  mis- 
educate  its  children  and  take  them  out  of  school  too 
early ;  to  vote  against  improvement  in  health,  police  and 
fire  protection;  to  pay  for  keeping  the  feeble  minded 
at  large  instead  of  keeping  them  in  institutions  by 
themselves  where  they  cannot  contaminate  and  hold 


THE    COST   OF    UNPREPAREDNESS  20, 

back  others ;  to  shut  its  eyes  to  accidents  which  waste 
numberless  millions. 

When  citizens  are  unprepared  for  citizenship  their 
government  is  restricted  and  hampered  or  crippled  in 
its  power  to  act  for  citizens  in  preventing  needless 
waste  and  in  freeing  their  paths  for  the  exercise  of 
their  capacities. 

When  unprepared  men  are  put  in  public  office  they 
are  not  only  unable  to  do  their  public  work  well  but 
they  perpetuate  evils  which  reduce  the  earning  and 
growing  power  of  those  out  of  office. 

Preparedness  for  personal  success  that  does  not 
carry  with  it  preparedness  for  citizenship  and  public 
service  may  result  in  net  loss  to  society.  The  self 
centredness  of  the  capable  is  quite  as  great  a  menace  as 
the  incompetence  of  the  incapable.  Therefore  the  need 
for  universal  training  of  citizenship  conceptions  and 
of  the  service  capacities  of  every  individual. 


CHAPTER  IV 

UNIVERSAL    TRAINING    FOR    CITIZENSHIP    IS    POSSIBLE 

Within  two  short  years  universal  military  training 
has  come  to  seem  an  entirely  possible  thing  in  our 
country  where  formerly  it  was  considered  not  only 
obsolete,  but  anti-American.  Many  still  disapprove 
it,  but  no  one  denies  its  entire  feasibility.  The  only 
questions  are:  Shall  it  be  done?  How  shall  it  be 
done  ?     Who  shall  pay  its  price  and  obtain  its  benefits  ? 

If  universal  training  for  war  is  possible,  universal 
training  for  service  is  possible.  For  over  a  century 
universal  training  for  citizenship  has  been  the  basic 
American  reason  for  maintaining  free  public  schools. 
In  theory  we  have  also  been  training  ourselves  for 
peace  so  far  as  we  have  gone  to  kindergarten,  play- 
grounds, extension  lecture  or  college,  and  wherever  we 
have  prevented  transmissible  diseases,  compelled  clean- 
liness, provided  recreation,  lighted  streets,  taught  safety 
first,  and  celebrated  our  holidays. 

It  is  the  detail,  not  the  idea  of  universal  training  that 
is  now  changing.  Universal  service  is  an  old  system, 
not  a  new  proposal.     Universal  service  in  time  of  com- 

30 


UNIVERSAL    TRAINING    FOR    CITIZENSHIP  3 1 

munity  need  is  already  provided  by  law  and  existed  as 
a  practice  long  before  laws  were  written.  To  this  day 
every  frontiersman  is  a  nurse,  a  carpenter,  a  judge,  a 
reaper,  a  road  maker,  a  defender,  a  fireman, —  accord- 
ing to  the  needs  and  interests  of  his  neighbourhood. 
All  men  are  now  expected  to  render  jury  service,  except 
two  or  three  groups  like  physicians  and  lawyers  and 
ministers  who  are  considered  as  already  and  always  in 
the  public's  service.  Constables  and  sheriffs  may  ask 
any  citizen  within  reach  of  their  voice  to  help  make  an 
arrest  or  detain  a  prisoner;  for  a  bystander  to  refuse 
this  call  is  an  offence  against  society  punishable  by 
fine  or  imprisonment  or  both. 

Specialized  training  has  been  found  possible  for  en- 
gineers, nurses,  dentists,  lawyers,  school  teachers,  phy- 
sicians and  scores  of  other  professions,  including 
specialties  within  professions. 

Business  finds  that  training  is  needed  as  to  purpose, 
plan  and  purse.  Colleges  are  springing  up  and 
special  endowments  are  being  given  for  courses  in  busi- 
ness. For  example,  headlines  announce,  "  $600,000 
for  a  business  course  at  Columbia  University,"  and 
"  $50,000  for  a  public  affairs  course  at  New  York 
University." 

Similarly  with  respect  to  citizenship,  there  is  need 
for  well  planned  training  with  respect  to  the  purpose, 
the  plan  and  the  purse  of  efficient  citizenship.  We 
have  purse  training  for  citizenship  in  abundance  al- 


32  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

ready.  It  is  training  as  to  purpose  and  plan  that  we 
especially  need  now. 

Whatever  can  be  done  at  all  can  be  done  better  by 
training.  Whatever  and  whoever  can  do  anything  at 
all  will  do  it  better  after  appropriate  training.  Wit- 
ness the  trained  fleas  and  human  contortionists  of 
vaudeville,  Mark  Twain's  jumping  frog,  and  Luther 
Burbank's  plants  and  fruits.  Think  of  what  Europe  is 
accomplishing  by  training  its  maimed  and  halt  to  do 
with  artificial  hands  and  arms  more  and  better  work  in 
carpentering  and  in  other  mechanical  occupations  than 
they  were  able  to  do  before  with  whole  arms ! 

Whatever  can  be  done  for  ten  insects  or  animals  or 
men  can,  as  big  business  has  proved,  be  done  for  ten 
million,  if  only  machinery  for  duplication  is  provided. 
When  we  do  a  thing  by  wholesale,  we  learn  to  do  it 
cheaper  and  better  than  when  we  do  that  same  thing 
by  individuals  or  in  small  lots.  It  is  duplicating  parts, 
doing  the  same  thing  over  and  over  again  in  the  same 
way,  which  makes  possible  dollar  watches  and  automo- 
biles for  $365. 

To  train  thinking  men  and  women,  whole  nations  at 
a  time,  has  proved  surprisingly  easy.  Thanks  to  news- 
papers and  magazines  which  go  regularly  every  day  or 
every  week  or  every  month  to  all  but  a  negligible  por- 
tion of  our  nation ;  thanks  to  the  advertisers  of  market- 
able goods  and  to  publicly  paid  teachers  who  talk  to 
group  after  group  both  by  mail  and  by  word  of  mouth, 


UNIVERSAL   TRAINING   FOR   CITIZENSHIP  33 

few  Americans  are  out  of  reach  of  training.  Tele- 
gram and  telephone  are  quicker  than  chain  lightning 
for  long  distance  illumination  because  they  can  be  con- 
trolled, relayed,  and  sent  directly  thousands  of  miles 
faster  than  the  ears  can  sense. 

Think  how  short  a  time  was  required  to  secure  na- 
tionwide interest  and  action  with  respect  to  indecent 
advertising,  to  patent  medicines  and  foods  which  fail 
to  disclose  their  contents,  to  prohibition  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  to  woman  suffrage,  to  the  need  for  high  schools 
as  part  of  the  minimum  equipment  of  every  com- 
munity's public  school  system  including  rural  districts. 

Hardly  had  we  understood  the  meaning  of  such 
terms  as  commission  government  and  city  manager 
before  we  woke  up  and  found  several  hundred  com- 
mission government  cities,  nearly  one  hundred  city 
manager  cities,  and  great  metropolises  like  New  York 
and  Chicago  seriously  debating  the  introduction  of  the 
single  manager  form  of  government.  Almost  as  fast 
as  a  flash  of  light  the  program  for  universal  instruction 
in  canning  fruits  and  vegetables  swept  from  south  to 
north,  from  coast  to  coast,  from  farm  to  Avenue 
mansion  and  side  street  tenement. 

In  191 7  centralization  of  power  in  the  national  gov- 
ernment and  in  one  or  a  handful  of  its  officers,  seems 
to  be  a  natural,  efficient  American  procedure,  in  view 
of  the  work  which  19 17  has  to  do.  How  quickly  our 
general  public  has  been  educated  by  events  may  be 


34  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

judged  from  the  statement  of  James  Bryce  in  1900  in 
the  third  edition  of  the  American  Commonwealth: 
"  No  nation  is  more  averse  to  the  military  spirit,  no 
political  system  would  offer  a  greater  resistance  to  an 
attempt  to  create  a  standing  army  or  to  centralize  the 
administration." 

Before  universal  co-operation  difficulties  rapidly  dis- 
appear. Big  business  has  come  with  the  telephone  and 
telegraph;  time  and  distance  have  been  annihilated. 
San  Francisco  is  but  a  second  away  from  Atlantic  City 
and  it  is  now  nothing  unusual  for  gay  companies  to  sit 
at  the  two  oceans  and  exchange  greetings,  compliment, 
song  and  applause.  It  will  be  easier  to  train  all  of  us 
than  to  train  one  in  ten  of  us,  for  only  by  aiming  at 
all  of  us  can  we  see  the  big  things  and  feel  the  spirit 
that  are  the  essence  of  training  for  the  kind  of  citizen- 
ship we  are  determined  to  have. 

The  appeal  for  universal  training  for  citizenship  and 
service  must  be  dramatic  in  its  promise  to  individual 
participants  of  health,  service  and  enjoyment  in  the 
doing.  In  spirit  it  must  show  vision,  aspiration  and 
humanity.  In  organization  and  method  it  must  show 
efficiency.  It  is  promise  of  these  elements  which 
has  made  recent  appeal  for  wholesale  universal  train- 
ing acceptable  and  infectious. 

Just  as  no  class  is  incapable  of  training  for  citizen- 
ship, so  no  class  may  safely  be  exempted  from  such 
training.     As  events  in  the  old  world  are  showing, 


UNIVERSAL    TRAINING    FOR    CITIZENSHIP  35 

every  class  in  the  community  is  needed  for  the  highest 
success  of  any  single  class,  even  the  army  and  navy. 
Women  are  needed  not  only  in  the  home,  but  in  prac- 
tically every  walk  in  life.  Old  men  are  needed  for 
counsel  and  actual  service.  Children  must  be  trained 
prior  to  leaving  school  in  ways  that  will  reduce  the 
necessity  for  training  after  they  leave  school.  Going 
still  farther  back,  infants  in  arms  must  have  special 
training  when  in  arms  if  they  are  to  be  ready  physi- 
cally and  socially  for  the  training  in  and  after  school. 
Even  the  sick  are  needed  in  this  universal  program  be- 
cause they  help  us  train  physicians  and  nurses  and  find 
universal  preventives. 

The  new  training  for  citizenship  must  not  be  allowed 
to  take  several  of  the  by-paths  which  universal  educa- 
tion takes  when  above  grammar  grades  it  is  free  only 
at  a  price  which  is  or  seems  still  prohibitive  for  the 
majority.  If  rich  and  poor  are  to  be  under  the  same 
compulsion,  they  must  enjoy  the  same  opportunities 
for  training.  Already  proposals  are  made  which 
would  hold  universal  military  training  for  those  who 
can  afford  it.  Interest  in  training  which  a  Democracy 
requires  must  be  made  universal,  whether  the  individ- 
ual can  personally  afford  it  or  not.  The  nation  as 
such  cannot  afford  to  train  a  few  of  us  but  can  afford 
to  train  all  of  us.  Recently  a  university  president  re- 
minded the  taxpayers  of  his  state  that  they  are  spend- 
ing less  on  higher  education  than  on  the  upkeep  of 


36  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

automobiles.  The  only  universal  training  for  citizen- 
ship which  is  practical  will  cost  vastly  less  than  the 
nation's  gum  bill  and  much  less  per  year  than  we 
have  been  spending  every  month  on  alcoholic  drinks 
and  tobacco.  In  fact  its  cost  will  not  be  separable 
from  the  cost  of  existing  schemes  of  education  and  pro- 
paganda with  which  it  should  be  incorporated  as  a 
minimum  essential. 

To  make  sure  that  the  possible  is  also  practical  we 
must  fit  our  universal  training  to  present  day  and 
future  facts,  needs,  and  agencies,  and  abandon  our  too 
limited  traditional  ideas  of  minimum  essentials  for 
citizenship. 


CHAPTER  V 

TRAINING    PRIVATES    FOR    MINIMUM    ESSENTIALS 

Privates  are  indispensable.  Moreover,  every  pri- 
vate is  a  potential  leader.  If  the  flagbearer  falls  some 
one  else  must  take  his  place.  Today's  private  be- 
comes tomorrow's  leader.  Captains  of  industry  who 
seem  to  be  carrying  the  burden  of  business  affecting 
whole  continents  die  or  retire  without  a  ripple  of  ap- 
parent inconvenience.  Mr.  Rockefeller  gave  up  ac- 
tive business  but  the  Standard  Oil  Company  went  on. 
Mr.  Carnegie  gave  up  active  business  but  the  manu- 
facturing of  steel  went  on.  Great  railroad  promoters 
like  James  J.  Hill  and  E.  H.  Harriman  died  —  for 
one  hour  on  the  day  of  their  funerals  every  engine 
stopped  in  memory  of  the  master  builder  —  then  the 
engines  started  to  do  more  and  better  business  under 
new  leaders. 

The  law  of  progress  is  such  that  successors  almost 

always  improve  upon  the  work  of  predecessors.     With 

few  exceptions  the  understudy  finally  surpasses  his 

preceptor.     The  traditional  way  of  expressing  this  is: 

The  king  is  dead,  long  live  the  king. 

The  basic  training  for  privates  is  the  same  as  that 

37 


38  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

for  corporals,  sergeants,  lieutenants,  captains  and  gen- 
erals. Seldom  does  one  rise  to  higher  ranks  in  mili- 
tary or  business  fields  without  having  excelled  in 
those  services  which  constitute  the  minimum  essen- 
tials of  the  private.  Seldom  have  armies  or  businesses 
succeeded  where  privates  did  not  excel.  It  ought 
to  be  made  impossible  in  education  for  persons  to  fill 
generalships  until  they  have  excelled  as  privates  in 
the  minimum  essentials  for  their  rank. 

No  nation  and  no  business  will  ever  want  for  lead- 
ers and  guides  whose  privates  are  well  trained  in  the 
minimum  essentials  of  their  service.  If  overnight  we 
were  to  forget  how  to  train  anybody  but  privates  and 
should  remember  how  to  train  privates  thoroughly  in 
the  minimum  essentials  of  their  duties,  there  would 
forthwith  spring  from  the  ranks  of  privates  plenty  of 
men  to  manage  and  direct  and  teach. 

The  minimum  essentials  for  privates  fall  into  seven 
groups:  i,  A  public  service  motive;  2,  ability  to  read 
and  write;  3,  desire  and  effort  to  think  straight;  4, 
preparation  for  one's  own  task;  5,  a  chance  in  every 
job  to  show  ability  for  higher  work;  6,  knowledge  of 
health  laws;  7,  knowledge  of  the  elements  of  govern- 
ment. 

The  first  minimum  essential  for  privates  is  a  public 
service  motive.  This  we  cannot  get  by  talk  alone,  or 
by  reading.  No  one  can  keep  the  public  service  mo- 
tive who  is  not  trying  to  render  public  service.     No 


TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR    MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       39 

one  can  know  the  public  service  motive  who  has  not 
actually  served.  Some  way  must  be  found  of  having 
every  private  do  work  which  affects  the  public  so 
that  he  will  be  trained  in  thinking  about  the  effect 
upon  the  general  public  of  what  he  does. 

People  love  by  loving;  people  learn  best  to  draw 
by  drawing;  people  learn  best  to  sing  by  singing; 
so  people  acquire  a  public  service  motive  by  rendering 
public  service. 

Lip  service  or  arm  service  from  any  other  motive 
than  a  desire  to  serve  the  public  may  do  more  harm 
than  good.  Wherever  the  spirit  of  leader  or  fol- 
lower is  not  love  of  service,  compulsory  military  serv- 
ice may  actually  unprepare  a  nation  to  use  its  military 
forces. 

To  universalize  the  public  service  motive  requires 
four  conditions  not  yet  widely  enough  sought:  public 
service  must  be  in  the  air ;  community  chores  must  be 
found  and  assigned  for  children;  every  person  must 
be  working  at  something;  and  every  person  at  work, 
however  humble,  must  be  interested  in  the  effect  of  his 
own  work  upon  society. 

Can  public  service  be  made  a  part  of  the  air  we 
breathe  ?  It  can.  In  many  schools  it  is  accomplished 
through  songs,  dramatics,  flag  drills,  textbooks,  dis- 
cussions, teachers'  illustrations,  courses  in  ethics  or 
manners,  and  pupil  self-government.  Children  who 
help    repair    school    buildings,    keep    school    grounds 


40  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

clean,  serve  school  lunches,  make  school  furniture, 
decorate  school  walls  and  organize  community  en- 
tertainments are  making  public  service  a  part  of  the 
air  they  and  the  rest  of  us  breathe. 

It  is  one  of  the  anomalies  of  our  present  patriotism 
that  our  newest  immigrants  know  more  of  our  his- 
tory, more  of  our  patriotic  songs,  more  of  our  na- 
tional ideals  than  do  children  who  can  count  two  or  six 
generations  of  American  ancestry.  Teachers  con- 
scious of  the  obligation  to  keep  patriotism  and  public 
service  in  the  air  are  notably  successful  when  dealing 
with  immigrants.  Would  they  not  be  equally  suc- 
cessful when  dealing  with  the  nativeborn  of  native 
parents  if  they  took  equal  pains? 

Because  the  patriotic  songs  and  the  patriotic  salut- 
ing of  the  flag  in  public  assemblies  often  seem  to 
creak  with  perfunctory  habit  devoid  of  spirit,  is  no 
reason  for  not  making  sure  of  the  spirit  as  well  as 
the  habit. 

"  Would  you  shun  the  fire  as  harmful 
In  that  once  it  burned  a  church  ?  " 

Those  responsible  for  public  schools  must  require 
more  patriotism  and  more  facts  about  privileges  and 
duties  of  citizenship  in  textbooks.  Too  often  ma- 
terial that  shows  citizenship  relations  is  notably 
lacking  in  the  primary  grades  when  children  are  most 
impressionable  and  when  they  are  already  capable  of 


TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR    MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       41 

patriotic  expression.  New  modern  readers  that  ex- 
cel in  method  are  conspicuously  lacking  in  patriotic 
motive.  For  example,  in  one  such  series  where  read- 
ing is  taught  by  the  aid  of  rhythm  it  would  have  been 
easy  to  supplement  stories  of  the  moon  and  of  boats 
with  a  picture  of  the  American  flag  and  a  poem  like 
this: 

"  I  love  the  name  of  Washington, 

I  love  my  country  too. 

I  love  our  flag, 

Our  dear  old  flag  of  red,  white  and  blue." 

In  the  interest  of  better  citizenship  private  schools 
will  soon  be  prohibited  except  those  which  are  under 
state  supervision  and  can  prove  that  they  are  living 
up  to  and  insisting  upon  the  state's  minimum  of 
purpose,  method  and  requirement.  Any  society  that 
has  reached  the  point  where  it  will  require  compul- 
sory military  training  is  ready  for  compulsory  mini- 
mum standards  in  its  education  wherever  given.  Dis- 
tinctions of  spending  power  have  no  place  in  universal 
training.  If  parents  wish  to  keep  their  children  at 
home  they  must  give  evidence  that  these  children  are 
benefiting,  not  losing,  by  being  kept  at  home.  Simi- 
larly religious  and  other  private  schools  must  be  re- 
quired to  give  evidence  that  they  equal  or  surpass  the 
minimum  standards  for  public  schools  —  after  these 
minimum  standards  have  required  attention  to  public 
service. 


\2  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

Ways  of  keeping  public  service  in  the  air  for  adults 
out  of  school  will  be  discussed  later.  Two  general 
suggestions  are  made  as  to  loafers  and  holidays.  That 
drones  shall  not  be  tolerated  in  peace  time  is  just  as 
elemental  a  proposition  as  that  slackers  shall  not  be 
tolerated  in  war  time.  What  laws  can  never  do  an 
atmosphere  charged  with  the  spirit  of  public  service 
can  do :  namely,  make  it  socially  uncomfortable  for 
the  work  slacker  to  hold  up  his  head  in  a  world  of 
workers. 

Any  nation  that  has  so  far  abandoned  its  century-old 
beliefs  as  to  seriously  consider  universal  military  train- 
ing has  reached  the  point  where  it  cannot  safely  com- 
pel business  and  schools  to  observe  legal  holidays  with- 
out seeing  that  the  national  purpose  of  those  holidays 
is  in  some  other  way  accomplished  than  by  spending 
money  on  entertainment. 

Independence  Day,  Decoration  Day,  Washington's 
Birthday,  Lincoln's  Birthday,  think  how  we  have 
been  using  them !  And  think  how  we  might  use  them ! 
How  few  of  us  will  go  to  hear  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  read  on  the  Fourth  of  July!  Fewer 
still  will  watch  the  Decoration  Day  parade.  It  may  be- 
come part  of  our  program  for  universal  training  to 
require  that  every  adult  and  child  go  to  school  on  our 
four  patriotic  holidays.  A  moment's  thought  will 
show  that  it  is  more  important  that  the  immigrant 
actually   read   the   Declaration   of   Independence   five 


TRAINING  PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       43 

years  after  he  is  admitted  to  citizenship  than  that 
he  be  able  to  read  one  sentence  before  admitted  to 
citizenship. 

A  second  minimum  essential  for  privates  is  that 
every  person  not  subnormal  in  mentality  shall  be  able 
to  read  and  write  whether  eight  years  old  or  eighty. 
Few  people  who  cannot  read  and  write  can  ever  fully 
understand  the  opportunities  and  duties  of  an  Amer- 
ican citizen.  No  one  can  know  enough  about  his 
heritage  as  a  citizen  or  about  his  present  day  duties 
whose  sources  of  information  are  limited  to  what  the 
rest  of  the  world  will  take  time  to  tell  him.  Nor  can 
any  one  in  our  day  fully  exercise  his  American  rights 
who  is  unable  to  express  himself  to  persons  beyond 
the  reach  of  his  own  voice.  No  foreign  born  person 
wishing  to  become  a  citizen  or  resident,  who  is  men- 
tally incapable  or  spiritually  unwilling  to  learn  to  read 
and  write,  ought  to  be  permitted  to  obtain  citizenship 
papers  or  to  remain  in  this  country. 

Straight  thinking  about  American  citizenship  is 
incompatible  with  illiteracy.  Fortunately,  in  teaching 
boys  or  girls  or  adults,  native  born  or  immigrant,  to 
read  and  write,  it  is  possible  to  use  for  this  training 
the  elements  of  citizenship  and  minimum  essentials 
for  public  service  with  which  their  later  reading  and 
writing  will  largely  be  concerned. 

Manufacturing  plants  have  learned  how  to  take  a 
man  who  is  unable  to  speak  a  word  of  English  and  in 


44  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

six  weeks,  two  hours  a  day,  give  him  seventy-two 
lessons  which  will  prepare  him  to  read  and  write, 
speak  and  understand  the  English  of  factory  instruc- 
tion, factory  conversation  and  newspaper  comment. 
What  is  equally  important,  these  business  men  educa- 
tors have  worked  out  methods  of  teaching  which  leave 
the  newly  taught  adult  with  a  desire  to  read.  What 
business  men  can  do  in  six  weeks  public  schools  can 
do  in  six  years  for  every  normal  person  entering  them. 

As  Lyman  Abbott  recently  wrote,  society  must  be 
saved  in  every  generation  because  "  it  is  impossible  to 
capitalize  a  nation's  safety  so  strongly  that  it  can 
rest  on  its  accumulated  moral  strength."  Saving  so- 
ciety in  every  generation  is  possible  only  by  harnessing 
to  this  task  our  public  school  systems  and  by  giving 
them  big  enough  programs,  sufficient  taxes  and  the 
helpful  supervision  which  will  guarantee  that  their 
work  is  thoroughly  done. 

A  third  minimum  essential  for  privates  is  desire 
and  effort  to  think  straight.  Would  you  omit  this  on 
the  ground  that  ability  to  think  straight  is  a  gift  or 
that  the  habit  of  thinking  straight  is  a  moral  habit 
not  capable  of  universal  training?  Please  do  not  for- 
get that  thinking  is  intellectual  before  it  is  moral,  and 
physical  before  it  is  mental.  The  steps  involved  in 
thinking  straight  are  as  easy  to  learn  as  are  any  other 
steps,  and  the  habit  of  desiring  to  take  and  of  actually 


TRAINING  PRIVATES   FOR    MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       45 

taking  these  steps  is  as  easy  to  acquire  as  is  any  other 
habit. 

Of  the  three  elements  of  straight  thinking  —  desire, 
knowing  how  and  habit  —  the  hardest  to  acquire  and 
to  retain  is  the  desire.  For  example,  parents  find  it 
physically  hard  to  think  straight  about  their  children's 
need  for  punishment,  self-denial  and  hard  work.  It 
positively  and  physically  hurts  the  rich  mother  of  a 
pampered  son  to  reduce  the  lavish  income  which  she 
knows  will  buy  temptation  and  wretchedness  rather 
than  happiness.  It  hurts  terribly  to  send  an  unman- 
nerly child  away  from  the  table  when  guests  are  there, 
although  such  discipline  might  prove  agreeable  to 
guests  and  beneficial  to  the  child. 

News  items  like  the  two  following  are  daily  taxing 
our  ability  to  think  straight :  "  Those  who  bought 
tickets  at  $2.50  each  also  received  one  drawing  share 
in  an  automobile " ;  "  Policeman's  bullet  kills  inno- 
cent boy  —  victim  returning  from  church,  stops  to 
watch  dice  game  and  runs  at  threat  of  arrest."  Our 
minds  tell  us  that  gambling  in  private  parlours  for 
the  aid  of  infantile  paralysis  victims  or  war  victims 
is  intrinsically  as  immoral  and  anti-social  as  gambling 
on  race  tracks  or  in  back  rooms  of  saloons.  Yet  it  is 
hard  to  think  the  same  way  about  gambling  oppor- 
tunities offered  by  charitable  and  religious  fetes  or 
war  relief  bazaars  as  we  think  about  gambling  oppor- 


46  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

tunities  offered  by  card  sharps,  bucket  shops,  or  boys' 
dice  games. 

When  we  say  that  it  takes  courage  for  a  public  man 
to  resist  a  million  dollar  bribe,  we  often  only  mean 
that  it  is  hard  to  think  straight  when  private  and 
public  interests  clash.  A  great  mayor  once  sent  for  an 
important  member  of  his  cabinet  and  said :  "  Com- 
missioner, I'd  like  you  to  appoint  as  deputy  the  man 
whose  name  you  will  find  in  this  envelope."  It  hap- 
pened that  this  commissioner  was  charged  by  law  with 
the  duty  of  appointing  a  deputy  who  should  be  spe- 
cially fitted  for  this  post.  In  addition,  both  he  and 
the  mayor  were  pledged  to  omit  politics  and  favour 
when  selecting  this  deputy.  Yet  the  mayor  was  the 
commissioner's  personal  friend.  It  was,  after  all, 
the  mayor's  responsibility.  No  one  would  ever  know 
about  the  secret  order.  Why  not  play  the  game  and 
acquiesce  in  his  superior's  request?  It  is  hard  work 
to  think  straight  in  such  a  crisis.  The  commissioner 
kept  thinking  of  this  problem  while  the  mayor  dis- 
cussed several  other  matters  of  interest.  When  the 
conference  was  over  and  the  commissioner  had  left 
the  mayor  found  a  pile  of  little  pieces  of  paper  which 
he  identified  as  the  envelope  and  slip  which  the  com- 
missioner had  torn  up  without  looking  at  the  name 
within ! 

Take  yourself  at  election  time.  Have  you  not  found 
it   hard  —  sometimes    too    hard  —  to    think    straight 


TRAINING  PRIVATES  FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       47 

about  parties  and  candidates?  Are  you  not  conscious 
of  hoping  that  no  pleasant  facts  about  the  opposing 
party,  and  no  unpleasant  facts  about  your  party,  will 
come  to  your  attention?  Or  if  you  are  a  woman  in 
a  state  where  women  do  not  yet  vote,  do  you  instinc- 
tively try  to  explain  away  facts  about  woman  suffrage 
where  tried  which  if  followed  straight  would  lead 
to  a  different  conclusion  from  the  one  you  like 
best? 

Few  duties  are  harder  for  the  citizen  than  to  desire 
and  to  try  to  think  straight  about  public  affairs.  Al- 
though loyalty  to  a  leader  is,  as  James  Bryce  said, 
"  a  poor  substitute  for  loyalty  to  a  faith,"  yet  our 
elections  are  constantly  misrepresenting  the  popular 
will  because  citizens  mix  up  leadership  and  faith  in 
their  thinking. 

For  straight  thinking  there  is  nothing  so  helpful 
as  unevadable  facts.  There  is,  after  all,  a  limit  to 
the  contortions  and  somersaults  which  even  prejudice 
is  willing  to  make.  In  full  daylight  it  is  so  hard  to 
insist  that  it  is  night  as  to  be  impossible  for  most  of 
us.  That  is  why  it  pays  during  a  political  campaign 
to  publish  and  republish  impersonal,  non-factional,  non- 
partisan facts.  Few  dyed-in-the-wool  partisans  have 
the  moral  or  physical  courage  even  when  they  have  the 
desire,  to  utter,  as  true,  statements  which  they  know 
a  considerable  number  of  their  readers  or  auditors 
know  are  untrue. 


48  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

An  important  truth  during  pre-election  discussions 
not  only  helps  the  few  who  take  it  up  and  store  it 
away  in  their  memories  and  as  part  of  their  thinking 
when  it  is  first  published,  but  that  truth  goes  on  work- 
ing. The  side  which  can  take  advantage  of  it  tells 
it  over  and  over  again.  The  side  whose  case  is  weak- 
ened by  it  may  seemingly  ignore  it  but  nevertheless 
alters  its  statements  so  that  it  does  not  convict  itself 
of  attempt  to  misrepresent.  Thus  non-partisan  in- 
formation is  used  for  partisan  purposes,  but  in  the 
public  interest. 

Whether  or  not  an  individual  thinks  straight  at 
election  time  is  relatively  easy  for  the  individual  to 
settle  for  himself.  Will  the  reader  please  test  himself 
by  asking  whether  he  would  think  straight  under  cir- 
cumstances like  these :  On  Wednesday  morning,  July 
18,  1917,  your  family  newspaper  stated  in  several  news 
and  editorial  columns,  that  your  reform  party  had 
renominated  your  reform  mayor  on  his  record  of  un- 
paralleled efficiency.  The  same  paper  made  several 
other  announcements.:  a  silk  dealer  who  had  notified 
the  police  department  of  a  threatened  burglary  and  had 
been  assured  of  police  attention,  was  surprised  to  find 
that  the  burglary  had  taken  place  according  to  schedule 
and  had  cost  him  $5,000;  a  coloured  elevator  boy  who 
had  for  months  been  successfully  moving  from  one 
apartment  house  to  another,  staying  a  day  and  then 


TRAINING  PRIVATES  FOR   MINIMUM  ESSENTIALS       49 

running  away  with  jewels  and  money,  had  been  caught 
after  his  stealings  totalled  $25,000 ;  an  investigator  for 
the  mayor  announced  that  the  police  department's 
method  of  supervising  detectives  and  patrolmen  ac- 
tually invited  incompetence,  neglect  and  graft. 

What  are  you  personally  going  to  do  with  these  sup- 
plementary facts  when  you  do  your  own  thinking  about 
the  efficiency  of  the  police  department  which  news  item 
and  editorial  have  extolled  ?  Are  you  going  to  forget 
about  the  marauding  elevator  boy,  about  the  investi- 
gator's indictment,  and  about  the  police  department's 
broken  engagement  with  the  burglar,  or  are  you  going 
to  keep  those  facts  fixed  in  your  mind  when  thinking 
about  the  needs  of  that  police  department? 

One  plan  for  encouraging  straight  thinking  by  voters 
and  taxpayers  is  being  tried  out  in  several  American 
cities  by  civic  bodies  which  want  what  we  call  good 
government  even  if  their  own  personal  preferences  are 
not  elected  as  managers.  A  typical  slogan  of  this 
educational  work  which  aims  to  state  facts  in  a  non- 
partisan, non- factional,  impersonal  way,  is  No  Mat- 
ter Who's  Elected.  This  slogan  has  been  used  in 
several  cities.  The  Institute  for  Public  Service  is  this 
very  summer  issuing  such  a  series.  Six  titles  are  re- 
peated here  to  help  fix  the  idea  in  the  reader's  mind 
as  a  minimum  essential  in  straight  thinking  not  only 
at  election  time  but  between  elections : 


5° 


UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 


No  Matter  Who's 
Elected,    No.    1 


No  Matter  Who's 
Elected,    No.    2 

No  Matter  Who's 
Elected,    No.    4 


No  Matter  Who's 
Elected,    No.    16 

No  Matter  Who's 
Elected,    No.    17 


No  Matter  Who's 
Elected,    No.    22 


Are  Y0U{  against  }TrUth  WhSficed 
or 

A"Y°U{  against  }M»      »»S- 

Crisis  for  Schools 

Pledges  Unfulfilled  or  Substantially 
Unkept 

The  Mayor's  Eye  [Investigations] 

Gary  School  Issue  Needs  Definition 

f     for     1 
Mis-Publicity  4        .       I  Reform 
I  against! 


Nor  is  it  only  adults  who  can  easily  be  trained  to 
think  straight.  In  Brooklyn  is  a  public  school  with 
about  three  thousand  pupils,  whose  motto  is  Think 
Straight.  In  classrooms,  in  the  halls  and  in  the  as- 
sembly one  finds  Think  Straight  on  banners  and  cards. 
By  masterful  use  of  this  motto  the  principal  is  train- 
ing children,  800  at  a  time,  to  have  the  desire  to  think 
straight,  and  to  practice  singly  and  en  masse  the  steps 
necessary  to  straight  thinking. 

The  last  time  I  attended  assembly  the  principal 
asked  the  children  what  subject  of  conversation  was 
the  most  popular  on  that  day.  They  agreed  that  it  was 
the  new  double  session  or  Gary  system  which  was  then 
but  two  days  old  in  their  school.  He  then  asked  how 
they  liked  it,  why  they  liked  it,  how  many  liked  it,  how 


TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR    MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS        5 1 

many  disliked  it,  why  they  disliked  it.  After  scores 
of  children  had  risen  and  given  their  personal  views 
and  after  votes  had  been  taken  on  these  expressions  of 
opinion,  the  principal  said,  "  Now,  what  is  our  motto?  " 
Eight  hundred  children  answered,  Think  straight. 
"  Well,  then,  if  we  are  to  think  straight  about  this 
experiment  what  are  some  of  the  steps  we  must  take?  " 
Hands  flew  into  the  air  and  children  made  one  sug- 
gestion after  another  which  led  to  the  conclusion  by 
eight  hundred  of  them  that  they  had  not  yet  informa- 
tion enough  to  think  straight  to  a  conclusion  about  this 
new  system,  but  that  on  the  contrary  if  they  ever  hoped 
to  think  straight  they  must  wait  until  the  experiment 
had  a  chance  and  until  they  were  sure  they  had  seen 
all  sides  of  it.  Have  you  any  doubt  that  these  children 
when  they  go  to  vote  will  have  the  habit  of  analysing 
and  of  straight  thinking  which  will  prevent  them  from 
showing  the  loyalty  to  a  leader  that  is  disloyalty  to 
a  faith? 

Wrong  conclusions  and  crooked  thinking  or  right 
conclusions  and  straight  thinking,  are  by  no  means  in- 
separable. Wrong  conclusions  can  be  drawn  from 
straight  thinking.  The  road  to  evil  may  be  just  as 
straight  as  the  road  to  good.  People  who  are  mis-in- 
formed may  with  an  excellent  logic  reach  an  unsound 
and  vicious  conclusion.  The  story  of  the  emanicipa- 
tion  of  the  individual  soul  and  of  nations'  souls  is  the 
story  of  substituting  a  safe  starting  place  for  an  un- 


52  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

safe  starting  place  for  straight  thinking.  The  only 
safe  starting  place  is  correct  and  adequate  informa- 
tion. 

Since  no  individual  can  be  sure  that  he  has  all  the 
information,  since  many  of  us  must  at  all  times  do  our 
thinking  in  full  consciousness  that  further  study  would 
be  helpful,  the  best  we  can  do  is  (i)  to  make  reason- 
able efforts  to  secure  the  facts,  (2)  to  think  straight 
with  those  facts,  and  (3)  to  have  the  courage  of 
a  conviction  that  is  based  upon  our  own  information 
and  reasoning. 

Even  when  so  conscious  of  our  own  limitations  that 
we  prefer  to  follow  rather  than  to  stand  alone  or  lead, 
we  can  at  least  choose  our  leader  because  we  have 
first  accepted  his  information;  and  we  can  refuse  to 
follow  a  leader  whose  information  we  either  do  not 
know  or  do  not  accept. 

Habitual  straight  thinking  requires  that  the  mind 
shall  either  painstakingly  or  with  electric  quickness, 
take  seven  distinct  steps  for  us:  1,  we  must  desire  to 
know;  2,  we  must  find  the  right  unit  of  inquiry;  3,  we 
must  count  the  units,  perhaps  by  weighing  or  measur- 
ing; 4,  we  must  compare;  5,  we  must  make  the  sub- 
tractions necessary  to  show  the  result  of  comparing; 
6,  we  must  summarize;  7,  we  must  classify. 

As  stated  above,  the  hardest  of  all  of  these  to  acquire 
is  the  habit  of  desiring  to  know  the  truth  even  if  it 
contains  disappointment  for  us.     No  one  can  possibly 


TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR    MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       53 

think  straight  who  desires  to  conform  or  to  believe  or 
to  endorse  rather  than  to  know. 

Finding  the  right  unit  of  inquiry  is  not  easy  with- 
out much  practice.  For  example,  the  women  who 
desire  to  know  how  woman  suffrage  actually  works  in 
Colorado  must  not  take  as  their  unit  of  inquiry 
woman's  theoretical  right  to  vote,  woman's  duty  to 
the  home,  or  what  partisan  advocates  or  opponents 
say  about  Colorado  results.  The  only  unit  of  inquiry 
that  permits  straight  thinking  is  the  thing  that  hap- 
pens, the  provable  result.  Again,  when  the  voter  de- 
sires to  know  whether  he  should  vote  for  or  against 
a  particular  candidate  for  mayor,  the  right  unit  of  in- 
quiry is  not  the  looks  or  the  eloquence  or  the  wealth 
or  social  standing  of  respective  candidates.  Instead, 
it  is  things  already  done  by  these  candidates  or  their 
colleagues  for  or  against  public  welfare,  and  things 
so  specifically  pledged  for  the  future  that  it  will 
be  reasonably  easy  to  secure  fulfilment  of  the  pledges. 

The  other  five  elements  of  straight  thinking  are 
more  or  less  mechanical  and  can  easily  be  acquired  by 
any  one  who  sincerely  wants  the  truth  rather  than 
agreeable  portions  of  it.  Counting  we  all  learn  to  do 
in  making  change,  buying  clothes,  discussing  every  day 
affairs.  Comparing  we  are  doing  all  the  time  when 
we  match  colours,  adjust  furniture  to  rooms,  appor- 
tion ingredients  in  our  cooking,  read  the  stock  ticker, 
and  choose  our  places  of  residence  or  business.     Using 


54  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

subtraction  to  gain  the  result  of  our  comparison  is 
a  little  less  frequent.  Even  our  most  efficient  busi- 
ness houses  are  still  reporting  to  their  stockholders 
with  comparative  columns  that  tell  the  stockholder 
practically  nothing  unless  he  stops  to  subtract  this 
year's  repair  bill,  $1,715,403.07  from  last  year's  repair 
bill  of  $1,800,907.44.  Many  of  us  as  individuals  are 
daily  making  comparisons  without  subtracting  for  our- 
selves to  see  how  much  greater  or  better  or  bluer  or 
prettier  the  second  thing  is  than  the  first.  It  is  not 
hard  to  train  oneself  to  ask  how  many  parts  in  a 
hundred  larger  one  thing  is  than  another,  whether 
three  per  cent,  or  thirty  per  cent. ;  if  the  difference  is 
three  per  cent,  we  naturally  do  not  take  it  so  seri- 
ously as  if  it  is  thirty  per  cent,  or  ninety  per  cent. 
Any  mind  that  has  desired  to  know,  has  found  the 
right  unit  of  inquiry,  has  counted,  compared  and 
subtracted,  wants  to  see  the  result  of  these  operations 
in  a  short,  definite,  meaningful  summary.  Finally,  the 
habit  of  classifying  one's  information  and  one's  con- 
clusion is  also  easy  to  acquire. 

All  around  us  the  world  is  trying  to  discipline  us 
in  the  habit  of  classification,  at  every  point  except  in 
our  thinking  about  public  affairs.  We  are  told  to 
turn  to  the  right  until  we  do  it  habitually  and  auto- 
matically. We  go  in  one  end  of  the  car  and  out  the 
other  to  save  confusion.  We  run  the  express  trains 
on  the  left  hand  side  and  the  local  trains  on  the  right 


TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       55 

hand  side.  We  serve  our  desserts  separately  and,  if 
we  can  afford  it,  in  a  different  kind  of  dish  with  dif- 
ferent kind  of  forks  and  spoons.  As  soon  as  the 
baby  can  walk,  in  fact  long  before  he  can  walk,  we 


Attitude  Toward 
School  Work 

1 

Step 

2 

Step 

3 

Step 

4 
Step 

5 
Step 

6 
Step 

Recitations 

Comes  poorly  prepared   

Classification  of  indexes  to  pupil 

progress,    by    Supt.   J.   W. 

Rutherford,   Clarion,   Pa. 

Promotion    in    danger    

Capable  of  doing  much  better 

Conduct 
Attendance 

begin  training  him  to  look  for  the  same  thing  in  the 
same  place  on  successive  days,  to  go  to  the  same  place 
for  the  same  pleasures  on  successive  days,  put  things 
in  the  same  places  —  a  place  for  everything  each  in  its 


56  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

own  place,  not  a  place  for  everything  and  everything  in 
that  one  place. 

It  is  just  as  easy  to  classify  the  steps  and  results  in 
our  thinking  with  respect  to  our  personal,  business  and 
public  relations,  and  it  is  essential  if  we  are  to  think 
straight. 

A  fourth  minimum  essential  for  privates  is  that 
every  person  shall  be  well  trained  for  his  own  job. 
This  does  not  mean  that  no  one  should  ever  take  a 
post  for  which  he  has  not  previously  made  special  prep- 
aration. It  does  mean  that  no  one  should  stay  on  a 
post  where  he  cannot  do  its  work  well  after  his  previ- 
ous training  has  been  supplemented  by  sincere  effort 
to  secure  training  from  his  new  position. 

Dis-esteem  for  one's  own  workmanship  is  a  poor 
basis  for  citizenship  and  patriotism.  On  the  other 
hand  every  person  who  is  doing  his  own  work  well 
enough  for  the  work  and  as  well  as  he  can  do  it,  is  an 
important  factor  in  his  country's  preparedness  for 
meeting  any  emergency. 

Yielding  to  the  requirements  of  war  former  lines 
of  importance  between  different  kinds  of  work  have 
been  disappearing.  We  are  beginning  to  see  how 
essential  each  part  is  to  the  whole. 

Heads  of  families,  effervescing  with  patriotism  and 
wanting  to  enlist  as  officers  or  privates,  have  been 
frankly  told  by  our  government  that  caring  for  their, 
own  families  is  just  as  patriotic  and  just  as  essential 


TRAINING  PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM  ESSENTIALS       57 

as  displaying  bravery  and  patriotism  in  army  and 
navy. 

Humble  services  have  gained  repute  in  the  eyes 
of  workers  because  they  have  gained  repute  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world.  A  college  professor  is  glad  to  take 
his  turn  in  the  munitions  factory  because  public  es- 
teem for  that  work  has  changed.  Women  of  fashion 
are  glad  to  do  clerical  work  and  house  to  house  visit- 
ing because  public  esteem  for  such  work  has  changed. 
Professional  men  and  ambitious  young  women  have 
been  glad  to  drive  cabs  or  take  fares  on  busses  or  run 
elevators  or  even  sweep  the  streets  because  each  of 
these  tasks  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  high  form  of 
patriotic  service. 

Whoever  does  well  the  thing  he  does  must  be  shown 
respect  for  what  he  does  and  particularly  for  what 
his  work  means  to  his  country.  Patriotism's  tape  line 
knows  no  measures  but  loyalty,  willingness  and  effi- 
ciency. 

"  Say  not  '  small '  event ! 
Why  '  small '  ?     Costs  it  more  pain  that  this  ye  call 
*  A  great  event '  should  come  to  pass 
Than  that?" 

Whether  one  is  trained  for  his  own  work  can  never 
be  told  before  his  first  field  trial  in  it.  Much  of  the 
world's  best  work  is  done  by  workers  in  fields  that 
are  new  to  them.     Great  teachers  will  tell  you  that 


5§  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

never  in  a  lifetime  of  teaching  did  they  ever  surpass 
the  results  of  their  first  year.  Abraham  Lincoln 
proved  to  be  admirably  trained  for  the  job  of  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  during  the  Civil  War,  yet 
no  part  of  his  earlier  training  could  fairly  be  called 
specialized  training  for  this  great  work. 

There  is  much  merit  in  the  feeling  which  Ameri- 
cans have  always  had  until  quite  recently  that,  to  quote 
Bryce,  "  any  citizen  is  good  enough  for  any  political 
work,"  and  that  "  it  is  a  disparagement  of  one's  own 
civic  worth  to  deem  one's  neighbours,  honest,  hard- 
working, keen  witted  men,  unfit  for  any  places  in  the 
service  of  the  republic."  There  was  a  great  truth  in 
that  old  prejudice  which  we  cannot  afford  to  sacrifice 
even  for  higher  degrees  of  the  mechanical  efficiency 
and  specialized  fitness  which  we  are  seeking  today 
through  our  civil  service  tests  and  scientific  manage- 
ment. 

No  matter  how  great  his  responsibility  or  how  high 
his  salary,  nor  how  extensive  his  previous  conven- 
tional training,  no  worker  is  well  trained  for  his  own 
job  who  does  not  do  it  well  when  measured  by  its 
own  possibilities. 

To  increase  the  quantity  and  quality  of  each  work- 
er's product,  the  apostles  of  scientific  management  in- 
sist that  the  worker  must  himself  see  that  he  will  share 
in  the  benefits  or  profits  from  increased  quantity  and 
quality   of   service. 


TRAINING  PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM  ESSENTIALS       59 

The  fear  that  scientific  management  will  get  more 
from  workers  only  to  increase  employers'  profits  with- 
out giving  more  back  to  employes,  has  led  labour 
unions  to  protest  against  efforts  to  secure  from  each 
worker  the  best  he  can  do  in  the  position  he  now 
holds.  One  of  the  tasks  confronting  the  country  in 
its  efforts  to  universalize  the  ideals  and  habits  of 
citizenship  and  of  service,  is  to  change  this  attitude 
of  organized  labour,  first  by  guaranteeing  benefits  to 
labour  from  increased  individual  efficiency;  second  by 
advertising  the  existence  and  attractions  of  those  bene- 
fits; and  thirdly  by  showing  that  among  these  benefits 
will  be  training  to  do  one's  best  in  one's  job  and  to 
grow  out  of  this  job  into  a  larger  opportunity  tomor- 
row. 

Another  task  is  to  complete  the  revolution  which 
is  already  so  far  under  way  in  the  attitude  of  employ- 
ers. We  must  not  be  satisfied  until  every  employer 
whether  of  one  domestic  servant  or  of  fifty  thousand 
factory  labourers  shall  declare  with  Mr.  Arthur  Wil- 
liams, who  has  done  much  to  promote  educational 
work  by  great  corporations  among  their  own  employes, 
— "  We  can't  afford  to  have  dead  workers  or  sick 
workers:  we  can't  afford  to  have  resentful,  discon- 
tented, underpaid  or  unhappy  workers  after  the  war." 
This  need  is  recognized  by  business  houses  so  ex- 
tensively and  in  so  many  ways  that  several  national 
magazines  have  gained  enormous  constituencies  by  giv- 


60  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

ing  concrete  suggestions  to  business  men  about  ways 
"  of  mining  human  nature."  From  one  of  these 
articles  by  Edward  Mott  Wooley  in  the  Saturday  Eve- 
ning Post,  a  typical  incident  is  quoted : 

Take  the  case  of  Teddy  A.,  who  applied  for  a  job  at 
the  age  of  twenty.  On  the  application  blank  was  the 
question:  "What  is  your  ambition  in  life?"  And 
Teddy  wrote :     "  Drive  delivery  wagon." 

In  a  store  without  intensive  management  they  might 
have  taken  the  boy  at  his  word,  and  perhaps  he  would 
have  stayed  out  on  the  wagon  all  his  life,  an  economic  loss 
to  the  store  and  to  the  world,  and  a  personal  failure. 

Instead,  they  put  Teddy  in  the  rugs,  as  a  junior,  at 
seven  dollars  a  week ;  and  then  they  began  experimental 
drillings  to  find  out  what  they  could  make  of  him.  There 
is  a  system  in  this  store  requiring  floor  managers  to  make 
periodic  reports  on  all  employes,  going  into  detail  and 
answering  many  specific  questions;  and  the  first  report 
on  Teddy  A.  was  a  dreadful  roast.  For  one  thing,  he 
had  no  sense  of  personal  appearance.  His  clothes  were 
soiled  and  ragged ;  his  tie  was  hopeless ;  his  shoes  were 
unacquainted  with  the  brush. 

Here  was  a  problem  of  some  interest.  Perhaps  Teddy 
was  a  worthless  claim ;  and  if  so,  the  sooner  they  found 
it  out  and  abandoned  him  the  better.  But  beneath  those 
shabby  clothes  might  lie  a  pay  streak ! 

It  is  one  of  the  fundamental  theories  of  the  develop- 
ment department  that  unless  the  faculty  of  observation 
can  be  cultivated  it  is  practically  impossible  to  develop 
a  person.  It  is  also  a  theory  that  in  teaching  observation 
the  academic  discussion  should  be  secondary  to  actual 


TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM  ESSENTIALS       6l 

contact.  So  they  gave  Teddy  half  a  day  off  and  told 
him  to  spend  it  in  the  store,  making  notes  about  the  six 
best-dressed  men  he  encountered. 

Right  here  comes  in  another  important  factor  in  this 
method  of  mining  human  nature.  Periodic  absences 
from  routine  duty  are  compulsory,  for  definite  purposes 
in  which  observation  plays  a  large  part.  This  idea  is 
quite  the  reverse  of  the  old-fashioned  don't-miss-an-hour 
schemes  of  things.  .  .  .  You  can  set  it  down  as  an  axiom 
that  the  average  human  nature  will  not  mine  itself. 

Teddy  A.,  however,  responded  satisfactorily  to  the 
test ;  for  when  he  turned  in  his  report  next  day  he  wore 
a  new  necktie  and  had  polished  his  shoes.  After  that 
his  progress  in  dress  was  rapid.  It  required  only  a  lec- 
ture or  two  and  a  few  more  observation  trips  to  turn 
him  into  a  well-dressed  young  man. 

Meantime  they  set  out  to  develop  his  ambition.  In 
one  of  the  classrooms  they  had  a  big  chart  of  the  store 
organization,  and  all  over  it  were  red  stickpins ;  and  they 
made  him  understand  that  each  one  stood  for  a  man. 
The  ordinary  chart  is  just  a  piece  of  the  furnishing ;  but 
this  one  was  a  stage,  with  live  men  walking  over  it. 
They  talked  about  men,  and  told  him  over  and  over 
that  he  could  walk  on  that  stage  in  almost  any  role  he 
chose.  It  depended  on  himself.  They  told  him  the 
stories  of  some  of  the  boys  who  had  gone  into  stores 
just  as  he  had  done,  and  how  they  had  gone  up  and 
up.  To  this  boy,  who  had  lived  twenty  years  in  an  ant 
hill,  it  was  a  revelation  —  a  sort  of  afflatus. 

Then  they  gave  him  a  lesson  to  do : 

"  Write  some  little  stories  about  successful  men.  Dig 
them  up  out  of  biographies  in  the  store  library;  out  of 
the  newspapers;  from  every  day  life  about  you." 


62  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

There  is  nothing  that  grips  a  man  so  much  as  the 
stories  of  men  who  have  done  things;  and  they  cul- 
tivated Teddy's  observation  of  opportunity  so  that  in  a 
little  time  he  laughed  at  his  erstwhile  ambition  to  be  a 
delivery  driver.  They  developed  other  qualities  in  him, 
too ;  and  now  he  is  assistant  manager  of  a  department. 

A  fifth  minimum  essential  for  privates  is  that  every 
kind  of  work  shall  afford  each  individual  engaged 
in  it  a  chance  to  show  ability  to  do  something  which 
will  be  harder  for  him  to  do.  Society  has  a  selfish 
motive  for  promoting  individuals  wherever  possible. 
There  should  be  in  each  job  a  chance  to  rise,  but  rising 
and  being  promoted  should  be  rewards  for  growing, 
not  merely  for  keeping  office  hours  and  obeying  laws. 
Every  vocation  needs  its  "  development  department " 
and  its  "  mining  of  human  nature." 

There  cannot  be  continued  growth  by  everybody 
unless  there  is  the  opportunity  —  and  incentive  —  for 
continued  study  and  effort  by  everybody.  This  need 
is  just  as  urgent  after  the  age  of  sixteen  or  seventeen 
as  before,  and  in  voluntary  club  work  as  well  as  in 
civil  service  and  in  business.  Fortunately  there  is 
something  about  growing  and  becoming  more  efficient 
in  any  task  that  inevitably  prepares  a  person  for  the 
next  higher  task. 

To  make  every  job  a  training  ground  for  a  better 
job  requires  continual  study  by  those  responsible  for 
work,  just  as  it  means  that  every  such  job  is  in  itself 


TRAINING  PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       63 

u  continuation  study,"  where  each  worker  has  his 
eye  on  the  rung  of  the  ladder  just  beyond  his  present 
position. 

An  imaginative  use  of  vacancies  is  proving  a  great 
asset  to  both  private  and  public  business.  When  posi- 
tions within  an  organization  are  filled  by  prepared 
men  from  below  rather  than  by  men  from  without,  one 
vacancy  often  creates  opportunities  for  five  or  fifty 
promotions,  each  vacancy  being  filled  by  the  best  pre- 
pared man  from  below.  When,  instead  of  filling  a 
woman's  club  presidency  from  persons  with  no  com- 
mittee appointments  or  perhaps  without  any  proved 
ability  or  interest  in  that  club's  work,  a  committee 
chairman  is  promoted,  perhaps  five  chairmen  and  a 
new  person  too  can  be  given  new  positions,  all  because 
one  vacancy  needs  to  be  filled.  Whereas,  if  an  out- 
sider is  elected  president  no  promotions  are  possible 
and  the  incentive  to  do  excellent  or  unselfish  work  is 
chilled. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  argue  that  such  promotion,  if 
made  by  merit,  encourages  both  those  who  have  been 
promoted  and  all  others  in  an  organization  who  see 
their  successful  fellows  advance  from  their  own  rank. 
The  fact  that  such  promotion  is  possible  makes  work 
more  attractive,  secures  recruits  of  higher  order,  and 
fosters  loyalty.  When,  on  the  contrary,  school  com- 
missioners for  a  central  board  are  selected  without 
even  considering  local  school  board  members;  when 


64  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

a  university  presidency  is  filled  without  considering 
any  member  of  the  existing  faculty;  when  a  factory 
superintendent  is  picked  without  giving  subordinates 
a  hearing,  disloyalty  is  fostered  and  ambition  arrested. 

A  striking  illustration  of  neglect  to  use  present  posi- 
tions as  training  grounds  was  afforded  by  the  Na- 
tional Education  Association  in  19 17,  when  it  named 
a  committee  to  supervise  the  spending  of  its  first  large 
private  gift.  A  fund  of  $6,000  was  given  to  this  na- 
tional body  of  educators  for  the  use  of  its  department 
of  administration,  which  department  was  started  in 
19 1 5  to  enlist  the  interest  of  school  board  members. 
School  trustees,  the  persons  publicly  accountable  for 
the  spending  of  our  billion  dollars  annually  for  edu- 
cation, have  for  over  sixty  years  been  more  neglected 
than  was  Cinderella.  A  wave  of  encouragement  swept 
the  country  after  it  was  announced  that  school  trustees 
would  henceforth  play  an  important  role  in  educa- 
tional conferences.  Yet  within  two  short  years  that 
dream  has  so  changed  that  this  $6,000  of  foundation 
money  is  to  be  spent  by  a  committee  not  one  of  whom 
is  a  school  trustee.  An  opportunity  to  dignify  and 
encourage  service  by  strong  men  and  women  on  school 
boards  is  thus  lost. 

Where  industry  and  business  are  so  organized  that 
they  seek  ability,  train  it  and  encourage  it  to  study  and 
grow  by  promoting  it,  a  foundation  is  laid  for  the  best 
possible  training  in  citizenship. 


TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       65 

In  preparation  of  pupils  for  efficiency  on  later  jobs, 
it  will  be  necessary  for  schools  to  find  out  about  chil- 
dren what  can  never  be  found  out  except  by  watching 
them  do  things  that  need  to  be  done.  There  are  cer- 
tain facts  about  personality,  persistence,  willingness 
and  resourcefulness  which  are  not  discoverable  until 
the  pupil  is  tried  as  doer  or  builder.  Doing  and  build- 
ing test  character  and  capacity  much  better  when  the 
person  under  test  or  at  study  is  doing  and  building 
what  is  needed  by  himself  or  somebody  else  and  will  be 
used  if  satisfactory.  No  one  can  know  for  what  kind 
of  work  he  is  best  fitted  and  how  much  he  cares  about 
being  efficient  until  after  he  has  been  given  real  work, 
not  play  work. 

School,  family  and  community  chores  must  be  dis- 
covered, assigned,  required,  and  made  educational  for 
children  in  the  early  grades  and  for  men  through 
college.  Even  if  this  requirement  of  community 
chores  should  mean  paying  teachers  to  supervise  work 
in  addition  to  those  now  regularly  employed,  it  would 
still  be  better  than  postponing  the  tests  of  character 
and  ability  that  can  be  given  only  by  work  that  needs  to 
be  done. 

That  the  use  of  community  chores  for  educational 
purposes  is  desirable  it  will  be  easy  to  show :  that  it  is 
universally  practical  it  is  as  yet  harder  to  show.  In- 
stances of  it  on  a  larger  scale  can  be  cited  as  in  reports 
to  the  Institute  for  Public  Service  from  over  fifteen 


66  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

thousand  schools  with  over  two  million  pupils.  No- 
where as  yet,  however,  has  a  city  adequately  mobilized 
its  community  chores  and  its  upper  grade  children  to 
prove  that  services  needing  to  be  done  can  with  rea- 
sonable ease  be  organized  and  progressively  used  for 
instructional  purposes. 

School  repairs  in  many  places  are  made  by  children, 
but  because  the  school  is  not  continuously  in  disrepair 
this  need  is  not  a  continuous  source  of  instruction. 
School  buildings  are  erected  by  children,  but  there 
comes  a  time  when  the  building  is  erected,  in  place  and 
completed.  In  a  few  schools  here  and  there,  as  in 
Connecticut  industrial  schools,  pupils  under  supervision 
are  allowed  to  take  contracts  for  building  private 
houses  and  shops.  This,  of  course,  greatly  increases 
the  quantity  of  teaching  material  through  work  that 
needs  to  be  done.  Labour  unions  must  be  taught  to 
favour  not  oppose  such  training. 

A  novel  estimate  has  been  made  by  the  United  States 
bureau  of  education,  that  if  school  children  were  to 
use  vacant  lots  for  raising  vegetables  while  busying 
themselves  in  studying  agriculture  and  science,  they 
could  raise  no  less  than  $750,000,000  worth  of  vege- 
tables a  year.  Other  work  of  enormous  economic 
value  can  be  encouraged  in  peace  time  by  giving  chil- 
dren school  credit  for  homework  and  by  insuring  that 
educational  use  is  made  of  such  home  work.  As  a 
by-product  of  no  mean  consequence  many  adults  (in- 


TRAINING    PRIVATES    FOR    MINIMUM    ESSENTIALS        67 

eluding  the  club  woman  who  will  welcome  definite  re- 
quests for  help  from  the  schools),  will  be  taught  also 
by  any  method  that  teaches  children  through  work  that 
needs  to  be  done. 

That  civics  can  be  taught  through  work  to  be  done 
better  than  through  laws  and  theories,  is  being  shown 
by  many  schools.  There  is  no  better  training  for 
citizenship  than  training  of  pupils  in  self  management 
of  their  own  schools,  in  keeping  school  grounds  clean, 
in  beautifying  walls  and  buildings,  in  preventing  dis- 
order, in  conducting  cafeterias  at  a  profit,  and  in 
raising  all  the  vegetables  for  school  cafeterias. 

Some  way  must  be  found  to  make  it  unnecessary  for 
whole  communities  to  go  on  forever  waiting  on  school 
children  through  the  primary  grades,  through  high 
school  and  through  college.  Boys  and  girls  and  teach- 
ers must  be  taught  how,  as  part  of  their  training,  pupils 
may  help  their  schools  and  community.  Service  to 
the  state  will  be  required  between  elementary  and  high 
school,  between  high  school  and  college,  and  between 
college  and  graduate  work,  not  so  much  for  the  sake 
of  the  state  as  for  the  sake  of  finding  out  what  use 
is  being  made  of  education ;  whether  it  is  developing  or 
spoiling  personality ;  whether  it  is  fostering  habits  and 
characteristics  that  make  for  citizenship,  or  fostering 
other  habits  and  characteristics  that  work  against 
citizenship. 

Finally,  it  is  futile  to  talk  of  promotion  from  lower 


68  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

grade  of  work  to  higher  grade  of  work,  or  of  encour- 
aging each  one  of  us  to  attain  his  full  stature  unless 
communities  prepare  themselves  to  deal  with  human  re- 
sources through  employment  bureaus  that  will  belong 
to  the  whole  community  and  not  to  any  private  con- 
cerns, and  that  will  not  merely  find  some  position  for 
the  unemployed  but  will  find  positions  which  they  can 
best  fill  and  will  also  find  for  the  employer  the  best 
fitted  worker. 

This  employment  service  must  combine  three  func- 
tions,—  discovery  or  diagnosis  of  strong,  not  yet 
strong,  and  weak  points ;  continuation  instruction  while 
at  work,  and  placement.  The  world  is  full  of  men 
and  women  doing  their  best  to  fill  the  positions  they 
now  fill,  who  are  capable  of  doing  more  exacting  serv- 
ice. They  need  help  in  finding  themselves  and  their 
larger  possibilities.  Communities  should  use  periods 
of  training  and  of  unemployment  for  such  discovery 
and  assistance. 

The  actual  working  of  such  a  bureau  would  be  like 
this:  A  woman  wishing  employment  as  a  secre- 
tary need  not  go  from  place  to  place  asking  for  a  post 
and  leaving  without  being  told  why  she  does  not  ob- 
tain it.  Instead  she  might  go  to  an  employment-school 
which  would  try  to  find  for  her  the  very  best  position 
which  she  was  able  to  fill  and  which  would  at  the 
same  time  be  best   for  her  in   the  long   run.     This 


TRAINING  PRIVATES   FOR    MINIMUM  ESSENTIALS       69 

means  that  the  employment-school  must  learn  about  her 
and  must  do  its  best  to  understand  her  possibilities  and 
her  needs.  If  she  is  stoop-shouldered,  pale,  so  timid 
that  she  cannot  look  you  in  the  eye  when  speaking, 
or  if  she  mumbles  or  is  untastefully  dressed,  she  will 
not  be  given  a  curt  dismissal  or  an  evasive  promise  to 
write  her  if  she  is  wanted,  but  will  be  given  just  as 
frank  and  definite  a  report  as  the  person  is  given  who 
goes  to  a  dentist  for  an  examination. 

If  the  reader  will  mark  himself  or  herself  on  the 
accompanying  personality  camera  on  page  70,  it  will 
be  easy  to  see  the  advantage  of  such  a  diagnostic  cen- 
tre. If  the  marking  shows  weaknesses  that  stand  in 
the  way  of  success,  then  it  will  be  easy  to  see  the  im- 
portance of  corrective  exercises  and  instruction. 

Obviously,  it  is  impossible  for  the  overwhelming 
majority  of  persons  at  work  to  stop  their  work,  give 
up  their  salaries  and  study  for  the  correction  of  de- 
ficiencies or  for  the  development  of  aptitudes.  For- 
tunately, however,  more  can  be  done  by  way  of  cor- 
rection if  instruction  is  given  while  one  continues  at 
work,  than  if  one  gives  up  work.  We  must  therefore 
organize  to  give  this  progressive  instruction  to  per- 
sons while  they  are  at  work,  so  that  the  instruction  can 
be  based  upon  qualities  and  needs  exhibited  at  work. 
An  approximation  of  this  method  has  for  four  years 
been  tried  out  by  New  York  City's  board  of  educa- 


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TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR    MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       Jl 

tion  which  urges  stenographers  out  of  employment  to 
use  their  free  time  at  the  commercial  extension  rooms 
trying  to  increase  their  competence. 

As  has  already  been  shown  this  continuation  instruc- 
tion is  being  extensively  given  by  progressive  manu- 
facturing and  business  concerns.  One  interesting  and 
novel  device  for  improving  English  will  appeal  to 
business  men  who  are  now  harassed  by  the  difficulty 
of  securing  stenographers  and  secretaries  who  have 
the  same  kind  of  colour  appreciation  for  words  which 
so  many  of  them  display  in  their  clothing.  A  sten- 
ographers club  was  organized  to  meet  once  a  week  for  a 
social  time,  dancing  and  refreshment,  plus  and  after 
an  hour  of  instruction  in  English.  This  instruction 
did  not  take  the  form  of  lectures  or  textbook  recita- 
tion, or  even  discussion  of  theories  and  rules.  On  the 
contrary  every  stenographer  was  both  teacher  and 
learner,  for  each  one  brought  in  concrete  happenings 
from  her  week's  work,  such  as  changes  in  her  dicta- 
tion, errors  in  grammar,  short  cuts  and  niceties  of  ex- 
pression, etc. 

It  is  not  enough  to  give  such  training  through  free 
bureaus  because  it  is  important  that  the  thus-far- 
successful  and  the  still-employed  be  helped  as  well  as 
the  out-of-employment  and  the  thus-far-unsuccessful. 
Self  supporting  and  successful  workers  will  not  go  to 
a  free  bureau  or  free  clinic.  If  society  in  its  own  in- 
terest wishes  to  help  them  secure  growth,  it  must 
permit  them  to  pay  for  service  obtained.     What  priv- 


M 


"Who  is  Ready  for  Daily  In- 
spection"? 

Shoes  shined  or  cleaned:  43  out  of 

45  boys,  congested  section 

Shirtwaists:  clean  and  mended,  all 
Ties:  neatly  arranged,  all 
Hair:  brushed,  all 

Daily  routine,  syllabus: 

I — Rise  promptly.     Throw  the  bed-  J| 

clothes  over  the  foot  of  the  bed         ^£06 

2— Take   breathing  and   setting-up  ^g| 

exercises     appropriate     to     the  HI 

grade  0^9 

3 — Observe   regulations   as   to    en-  ^* 

tering    school  uffilw 

4_Care  for  outer  clothing.     Attend  *^ 

to  order  of  desk  and  prepare  for  J| 

daily  morning  hygienic  inspec-  risWVM 

tion  ,    &» 

5 — Keep  correct  sitting  and  stand-         ^jST 
ing  posture  in  school  ^B 

6— Play  in  fresh  air  after  school  iQgjP 

7 — Prepare   for   bed   early.     Attend        JW 
the   toilet,   wash,  put  clothes  in     tf|PM 
order,  and  open  window 


ViLlfrlJMlJ* 


Daily  practice  by  all  children 
73 


Experimental  Syllabus  in 
Hygiene 

i — Hygiene      of      the      classroom: 

counteract  and  eliminate  the 
health-depressing  influences  of 
school   life 

2 — Instruction  in  hygiene:  incul- 
cate habits  of  cleanliness  and 
care  of  the  body,  in  order  to 
promote  good  health  and  vigor 

3 — Inspection  of  pupils:  to  incul- 
cate habits  of  personal  cleanli- 
ness by  arousing  interest  and 
pride  in  personal  appearance 
and  by  stimulating  a  desire  to 
attain  a  perfect  class  record  in 
cleanliness,  neatness  and  good 
health;  to  discover  early  signs 
of  illness  and  to  prevent  con- 
tagion; to  establish  cooperation 
between  home  and  school ;  to 
establish  close  cooperation  be- 
tween school  medical  inspec- 
tion service  and  class  teacher 

4 — Observation  for  evident  physical 
disabilities:  by  teacher  of  pu- 
pils' hearing  and  vision  and 
other  physical  disabilities;  co- 
operation with  doctor  and 
nurse  to  correct  defects  found 


Daily  training  for  all  children 
73 


74  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

ate  enterprise  has  organized  for  money  returns  so- 
ciety can  organize  for  citizenship  returns.  Certainly 
no  community  can  afford  to  do  less  for  recidivist  self- 
supporting  workers  than  it  does  for  recidivist  criminal 
offenders, —  remove  the  cause  of  the  repeating. 

A  sixth  minimum  essential  for  privates  is  knowledge 
of  health  facts  and  health  laws.  These  elements  are 
being  quite  generally  taught  to  school  children  by  way 
of  both  precept  and  practice.  Laws  are  making  such 
instruction  compulsory.  If  all  of  our  schools  knew 
and  did  what  some  of  our  schools  already  know  and 
do,  we  need  feel  little  concern  for  the  future  of  the 
country's  health  habits. 

In  many  cities  children  from  the  poorest  homes  are 
being  given  skilled  attention  as  to  posture,  mouth 
cleanliness,  voice,  neatness  of  person  and  manners  not 
surpassed  in  the  most  exclusive  schools  or  the  wealthi- 
est homes.  Our  next  problem  is  to  make  sure  that  all 
schools  and  all  employers  do  what  our  best  schools  and 
most  progressive  employers  are  now  doing.  No  phy- 
sical training  which  armies  will  ever  give  will  equal 
the  training  for  citizenship  which  proper  school  hy- 
giene is  giving.  For  finding  out  what  they  do  and 
what  they  are  failing  to  do,  and  for  proving  to  them 
the  great  advantage  of  doing  what  we  know  is  uni- 
versally needed,  the  public  machinery  already  exists. 

Privates  must  learn  to  welcome  the  use  of  that  ma- 
chinery.    Just  as  no  private  is  fitted  for  war  who  does 


TRAINING  PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       75 

not  know  that  among  the  minimum  essentials  of  his 
rights  is  the  right  to  sanitary  camps,  so  no  soldier  in 
America's  army  of  citizens  and  workers  should  fail 
to  be  taught  that  no  right  of  citizenship  is  more  im- 
portant than  his  right  to  sanitary  conditions  for  work, 
play  and  home. 

Take  for  example  the  morning  inspection  of  a  vil- 
lage school:  The  teacher  turns  over  the  class  to  its 
elected  chairman,  who  today  is  a  little  girl  twelve  years 
old.  Madam  chairman  raps  for  order  and  with  a 
tone  and  look  which  inspires  confidence,  admiration 
and  obedience,  announces :  "  Make  ready  for  morn- 
ing inspection."  Monitors,  again  democratically 
chosen,  move  to  the  front  of  the  class,  and  as  the 
chairman  gives  orders,  with  military  precision  they 
pass  down  the  aisles  and  back,  noting  elements  of  pre- 
paredness among  forty  children :  a  —  hands,  including 
finger  nails,  b  —  arms  to  the  elbows,  c  —  ears  and  neck 
right  side,  d  —  ears  and  neck  left  side,  e  —  hair,  f  — 
waists  and  neckties,  g  —  posture.  This  is  done  with 
a  dispatch  which  would  do  credit  to  Plattsburg,  and 
with  an  exacting  impartiality  that  inspires  impersonal 
straight  thinking  and  a  desire  not  to  be  found  unpre- 
pared. 

As  Dr.  S.  S.  Goldwater  urged  when  he  was  com- 
missioner of  health  for  New  York  City,  eventually  we 
shall  require  proof  each  year  or  once  in  three  years 
that  each  adult  has  had  a  complete  physical  examina- 


y6  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

tion,  knows  where  if  at  all  he  is  below  par,  and  is 
taking  steps  to  protect  the  public's  interest  in  him.  We 
shall  go  farther  and  step  in  to  insure  education  of 
employes  and  employers  whose  business  closely  affects 
the  public.  No  one  may  now  be  employed  in  bakeries 
and  restaurants  in  certain  cities  without  a  license  from 
the  health  department  saying  that  he  is  free  from 
tuberculosis  or  other  transmissible  disease. 

From  protecting  the  public  by  such  instruction,  it 
is  a  short  step  to  such  action  by  the  public  in  the 
interest  of  the  employe, —  therefore,  the  industrial 
hygiene  work  of  city  and  state  departments  which  say 
that  workers  must  not  only  be  protected  by  law  and 
not  only  protected  by  the  application  of  law  to  working 
conditions,  but  must  themselves  know  the  elements  of 
"  safety  first,"  every  man  for  his  own  occupation. 

A  seventh  minimum  essential  for  privates  is  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  elements  of  government.  It  is  not  enough 
that  we  should  know  what  our  country  stands  for. 
We  must  know  how  our  country  goes  about  doing  the 
things  for  which  it  stands.  We  must  know  how  to 
test  government  service  so  that  when  voting  or  other- 
wise expressing  pleasure  or  protest  we  shall  not  be 
misled  by  vague  generalizations  or  stampeded  by  per- 
sonal and  party  appeals.  Privates  in  the  ranks  must 
come  to  see  that  government  is  a  sequence  of  acts  and 
not  a  mere  sequence  of  men. 

Every  school  in  the  country  can  and  should  be  used 


TRAINING  PRIVATES  FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       JJ 

to  teach  the  elements  of  citizenship  at  work.  Before 
giving  children  certificates  entitling  them  to  leave 
school  or  exempting  them  from  obligation  to  attend 
what  we  call  continuation  schools,  i.e.  schools  in  the 
time  of  their  employers  after  the  compulsory  school 
age  is  passed,  we  can  make  sure  that  they  know  and 
can  do  prescribed  minimum  essentials.  That  this  is 
feasible  and  not  chimerical  is  being  proved  by  many 
teachers:  our  only  problem  now  is  how  to  show  the 
teachers  who  are  not  doing  this  how  other  teachers 
who  are  doing  it  go  about  it. 

After  a  generation  of  attempts  to  teach  civics  by  re- 
quiring children  to  memorize  facts,  it  seems  clear  that 
schools  will  be  effective  in  teaching  the  elements  of 
citizenship  just  in  proportion  as  they  require  the  prac- 
tice of  those  elements  within  the  school  and  within 
the  community.  Pupils  should  learn  about  food  in- 
spection by  inspecting  foods;  about  tenement  house 
inspection  by  reporting  violations  in  tenement  houses ; 
about  street  cleaning  by  helping  to  keep  schools  and 
streets  clean  and  reporting  cases  if  need  be  to  the 
attention  of  paid  street  cleaners;  about  straight  think- 
ing by  reading  newspapers  or  magazines  and  discuss- 
ing important  current  events  in  democratically  or- 
ganized classes  under  the  guidance  of  a  teacher;  about 
education  of  the  public  in  the  results  and  methods  of 
government  by  making  exhibits  for  the  public  to  see. 

Any  parent,  public  officer,  teacher  or  factory  man- 


78  UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

ager  interested  in  this  pay-as-you-go,  learning-by-earn- 
ing method  of  teaching  the  essentials  of  citizenship  can 
materially  help  his  own  state  by  asking  the  state  depart- 
ment of  public  instruction  to  circulate  information 
about  this  method. 

It  is  not  easy  to  list  ways  of  requiring  citizens  to 
keep  up  to  date  in  facts  about  government.  Theo- 
retically it  would  be  desirable  to  require  every  adult  to 
give  an  annual  accounting  of  his  service  and  study  as 
a  citizen, —  to  give  proof  at  least  once  a  year  that  he 
is  watching  what  his  government  does  and  that  he  is 
not  misreading  what  it  does.  Practically  it  is  not  yet 
reasonable  to  suggest  such  annual  accounting  or  even 
a  re-examination  every  five  years.  Practically,  how- 
ever, we  are  ready  to  set  up  minimum  essentials  for 
admission  to  citizenship  and  for  registration  for  vot- 
ing. 

Why  should  we  admit  a  foreigner  to  citizenship, 
or  a  new  voter  to  registration  and  to  voting  without 
finding  out  whether  he  possesses  the  minimum  essen- 
tials? Once  having  admitted  him  to  citizenship  we 
cannot  at  present  give  him  any  further  test.  We  have 
great  leverage  just  before  admitting  him  because  we 
have  a  gift  of  untold  value  to  dispense.  Before  giv- 
ing it  away  we  are  entitled  to  make  terms  which  will 
insure  appreciation  rather  than  contempt  for  the  gift. 
How  can  persons  admitted  to  citizenship  fail  to  have 
contempt  for  its  responsibilities  if  we  require  no  other 


TRAINING  PRIVATES  FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       79 

evidence  of  preparedness  beyond  ability  to  read  a 
sentence  from  the  constitution  plus  a  residence  of  a 
certain  number  of  years  ? 

If  we  ever  come  to  the  point,  as  we  surely  should, 
where  it  seems  feasible  to  test  the  adult  citizen's  knowl- 
edge of  his  current  obligations,  registration  times  will 
make  it  easy.  When  you  stop  to  think  of  it,  is  it  not 
careless  to  say  the  least  for  a  public  to  let  and  almost 
compel  individuals  to  vote  upon  the  destinies  of  a 
town,  a  state  or  a  nation  without  taking  a  single 
step  to  ascertain  whether  those  individuals  have  a 
ghost  of  an  idea  of  what  they  are  voting  about?  No 
one  can  enter  a  lodge  meeting,  no  matter  how  much 
money  he  has  or  how  many  times  he  has  paid  his 
dues,  if  he  is  without  the  password.  No  one  can  pass 
the  picket  on  post  no  matter  what  his  education,  social 
position  or  military  title,  if  he  cannot  give  the  pass 
word  or  countersign.  Precautions  which  blind  pigs 
or  blind  tigers  or  illicit  gambling  houses  take  to  be 
sure  that  patrons  rightfully  "  belong,"  should  not  be 
beneath  the  notice  of  a  public  which  regards  the  right  to 
vote  as  a  sacred  trust. 

One  next  step  which  individuals  can  hasten  and  uni- 
versalize is  for  our  governments  to  employ  the  meth- 
ods mentioned  later  for  insuring  continuous  explana- 
tion of  what  they  do  and  what  their  communities 
need  plus  continuous  enforcement  of  law,  so  that 
citizens  will  be  under  continuous  education  from  those 


80  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

whom  they  place  in  office.  What  weekly  health  re- 
ports are  doing  in  some  cities,  frequent  reports  of  all 
public  officers  should  do  for  all  community  govern- 
ments. 

When  we  needed  enlistments  and  Red  Cross  gifts 
for  a  world  war  we  did  not  trust  the  individual  to  find 
out  about  these  needs  from  libraries  or  from  records  at 
Washington  and  state  capitals.  Far  from  it.  We 
bought  billboard  space  and  advertising  space  in  news- 
papers and  magazines.  We  chartered  busses  and  sent 
out  millions  of  appeals.  The  same  principle  of  edu- 
cation must  be  adopted  by  representatives  of  the  pub- 
lic in  reporting  what  they  are  doing  for  or  against  the 
public  interest.  Let  the  reader  not  forget  that  any 
system  of  reporting  what  governments  do  which  fails 
to  tell  government  weaknesses,  will  also  fail  to  tell 
where  government  is  doing  the  most  we  expect  of  it 
and  where  it  needs  help. 

A  novel  suggestion  was  recently  made  which  would 
provide  a  new  source  of  extension  education  for  those 
who  read  newspapers  and  listen  to  campaign  speeches, 
at  the  same  time  that  it  would  doubtless  greatly  im- 
prove the  character  of  education  by  existing  agencies 
of  publicity.  This  suggestion  is  that  the  minority  par- 
ties of  cities,  states  and  nation  be  voted  funds  as 
part  of  regular  annual  budgets  with  which  to  study 
year  in  and  year  out,  how  and  with  what  results  taxes 


TRAINING  PRIVATES  FOR   MINIMUM  ESSENTIALS       8l 

are  spent.  Requests  for  funds  would  be  analysed, 
qualifications  of  appointees  would  be  published,  ma- 
jority misrepresentations  would  be  uncovered.  Of 
course  the  idea  would  be  to  try  to  show  that  the  party 
in  power  had  not  done  the  right  things,  had  left  neces- 
sary things  undone,  or  had  done  its  work  less  com- 
petently and  satisfactorily  than  occasion  permitted 
and  required. 

Any  majority  party,  under  this  continuous  compe- 
tition financed  by  the  public,  would,  of  course,  desire 
to  save  itself  and  would  try  to  make  out  a  convincing 
case  for  being  continued  in  power.  Experience  would 
soon  show  that  the  best  possible  insurance  for  the 
party  in  power  against  misrepresentation  by  the  party 
out  of  power  would  be  work  so  efficient  and  so  con- 
tinuously satisfactory  that  when  described  it  would 
itself  speak  for  the  party  in  power.  From  a  political 
point  of  view  this  would  be  a  bit  unfair  to  the  minority 
party  which  now  frequently  profits  by  storing  up  the 
blunders  of  the  ruling  party  and  loosing  them  in  an- 
tagonistic publicity  during  a  political  campaign. 
However,  since  the  training  for  citizenship  demands 
that  we  think  of  public  interest  rather  than  of  party 
interest,  we  must  ask  party  managers  to  find  ways 
of  promoting  party  while  still  helping  the  public. 
Educating  the  public  between  election  times  would  cer- 
tainly improve  the  character  of  government,  because 


82  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

few  men  have  the  physical  courage  to  go  on  doing  what 
their  constituents  clearly  see  is  against  constituents' 
interest. 

Does  this  seem  to  you  a  fantastic  proposal  ?  Would 
you  be  more  sure  that  it  was  fantastic  if  told  that  a 
Tammany  senator  had  proposed  it?  Would  you  be 
tempted  to  find  it  sound  and  scientific  if  told  that  the 
Tammany  senator  disavowed  credit  for  the  suggestion 
and  recalled  that  he  was  indebted  for  it  to  a  statement 
made  by  President  A.  Lawrence  Lowell  of  Harvard 
before  the  New  York  State  Constitutional  Convention 
of  191 5  when  discussing  European  practice? 

Utopia  would  include  other  minimum  essentials  for 
every  private  such  as  courage,  independence,  loyalty, 
honesty,  love  of  mankind  and  optimism.  Not  as  mini- 
mum essentials  but  as  "  consummations  devoutly  to  be 
wished,"  must  we  regard  these  spiritual  qualities,  the 
beauty  and  value  of  which  must  be  repeatedly  and  con- 
tinuously shown  to  privates. 

If  the  seven  essentials  for  privates  above  listed 
as  practical  minimum  essentials  were  universally 
possessed,  no  American  citizen  could  fail  to  know  the 
joys  and  rewards  of  purposeful,  patriotic  living  even 
if  a  considerable  number  should  continue  to  sin  against 
the  light  by  deluding  themselves  into  disloyal  action. 
Where  public  service  and  information  about  public  ac- 
tion are  in  the  air  violations  of  law,  selfishness,  and 
sordid  thinking  become  uncomfortable. 


TRAINING   PRIVATES   FOR   MINIMUM   ESSENTIALS       83 

By  consciously  striving  to  achieve  and  develop  the 
seven  minimum  essentials  for  privates,  each  of  us  will 
find  himself  subconsciously  helping  others  and  himself 
with  this  thought: 

"  You'll  see  that,  since  our  fate  is  ruled  by  chance, 
Each  man,   unknowing,  great, 
Should  frame  life  so  that  at  some  future  hour 
Fact  and  his  dreamings  meet." 


CHAPTER  VI 

TRAINING   FOR   VOLUNTEER   CIVIC    WORK 

What  is  civic  work?  How  does  it  differ  from  citi- 
zenship? Why  does  the  person  already  trained  for 
citizen  duties  need  also  to  be  trained  for  volunteer  civic 
work? 

In  a  sense  all  work  that  pays  its  own  way  is  civic 
work. 

The  man  who  does  his  duty  between  elections  is  en- 
gaged in  civic  work  as  well  as  in  private  work. 

Obeying  the  law,  throwing  banana  skins  into  waste 
receptacles  instead  of  on  the  street,  sweeping  one's 
yard  clean,  taking  care  of  one's  baby,  earning  one's 
wages,  being  an  agreeable  fellow  worker,  is  civic  work 
just  as  truly  as  each  is  private  work. 

The  mayor  who  enforces  the  law,  the  governor  who 
tries  to  reduce  waste,  the  patrolman  who  skilfully 
guides  traffic  and  sympathetically  answers  questions, 
are  all  doing  civic  work. 

But  the  term  civic  work  has  come  to  have  a  special 
meaning  and  refers  to  work  done  by  groups  of  citizens 
or  occasionally  by  inspired  individuals  who  have  extra- 
governmental  relations;  who  are  not  paid  or  chosen 

84 


TRAINING   FOR   VOLUNTEER   CIVIC   WORK 


85 


by  the  public;  who  are  not  asked  by  the  public  to  do 
things ;  but  who  as  part  of  the  community  have  volun- 
teered for  ends  which  they  believe  concern  the  whole 
community. 

Typical  of  best  known  agencies  engaged  in  local 
civic  work  are  these: 


Farmers'  granges 

Men's  civic  clubs 

Prison  reform 

Municipal  art  leagues 

Housing  associations 

Bar  associations 

Public  education  associa- 
tions 

Societies  to  reduce  munici- 
pal waste 


Bankers'  associations 
Children's  societies 
Women's  civic  clubs 
Consumers   leagues 
Religious  societies 
Medical  societies 
Civic  and  commerce  asso- 
ciations. 
Bureaus    of    governmental 
research 


For  separate  states,  an  occasional  county  and  the  na- 
tional government  there  are  corresponding  agencies. 
In  fact  so  contagious  is  successful  civic  work  that 
yesterday's  local  agency  becomes  tomorrow's  national 
federation. 

Political  parties  are  the  best  known  and  the  most  in- 
fluential and  the  most  effective  for  good  or  for  ill  of 
civic  activities.  Their  only  reason  for  existence  is 
to  secure  the  election  and  appointment  of  their  mem- 
bership to  office,  as  the  best  means  they  know  to  bring 
about  whatever  changes  in  public  service  they  think 
are  needed.     It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  every 


86  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

citizen  be  trained  for  effective  service  in  and  study 
of  political  parties  or  groups. 

Another  type  of  activity  regarding  which  the  gen- 
eral public  must  be  trained  to  hold  proper  ideals  of 
civic  accountability  and  efficiency,  is  the  endowed 
foundation.  While  the  term  foundation  legitimately 
includes  our  great  private  universities  and  many  of  our 
local  private  charities,  we  are  rapidly  limiting  its  spe- 
cial application  to  such  civic  agencies  as  the  Carnegie 
Corporation,  the  Carnegie  Institute  at  Washington,  the 
Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teach- 
ing, the  Carnegie  Peace  Foundation,  the  Rockefeller 
General  Education  Board,  the  Rockefeller  Institute  of 
Medical  Research,  the  Rockefeller  Foundation,  the 
Rockefeller  Institute  for  Governmental  Research,  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation. 

Many  foundations  started  as  local  foundations  soon 
find  their  opportunities  and  responsibilities  widened 
so  that  they  become  national  in  influence  if  not  in 
field  of  operations.  For  example,  the  Cleveland 
(Ohio)  Foundation,  the  Community  Trust  and  the 
Elizabeth  McCormick  Foundation  (Chicago),  the 
Wilder  Charity  (St.  Paul)  and  the  Dunwoody  Insti- 
tute (Minneapolis). 

Not  so  much  because  of  the  money  they  spend  as 
because  of  the  money  and  influence  they  are  asked  to 
give,  foundations,  without  making  a  move,  cannot 
help  exerting  untold  influence  for  good  or  for  ill  upon 


TRAINING   FOR   VOLUNTEER    CIVIC   WORK  87 

civic  efforts  and  ideals  whether  the  rest  of  us  want 
to  be  influenced  or  not.  Their  influence  is  commen- 
surate with  the  world's  desire  for  their  money  rather 
than  with  the  relatively  small  amounts  they  can  give. 

No  citizen  can  understand  his  own  place  in  the  uni- 
verse of  citizen  duties  and  opportunities  unless  he 
knows  the  importance  of  keeping  foundations  and  all 
other  volunteer  activities  in  their  places,  as  aids  to  and 
not  obstructions  to  Democracy. 

In  the  chapter  on  the  specially  gifted  this  issue  be- 
tween private  agencies  that  aid  and  private  agencies 
that  dictate  and  subsidize  is  further  developed. 

Many  civic  agencies  are  organized  to  prevent  public 
action;  many  others  are  organized  to  promote  and 
hasten  public  action. 

Because  within  a  community  there  are  different  de- 
grees of  wealth,  of  knowledge,  of  public  spirit,  there 
should  be  in  every  well  organized  community  many 
different  kinds  of  civic  work,  some  urging,  some  pro- 
testing, some  teaching,  some  blazing  trails.  No  so- 
ciety is  truly  representative  which  does  not  provide  for 
more  varied,  more  continuous  and  more  proportioned 
representation  of  community  -interests  than  is  possible 
by  way  of  an  occasional  election. 

Because  no  one  group  has  a  monopoly  of  inspira- 
tion, public  spirit,  energy  and  vital  interest  at  stake, 
it  is  unwise  for  any  city  or  state  to  accept  as  gospel 
what  any  one  group  declares  and  advises.     Therefore 


88  UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

it  is  urgently  necessary  that  the  civic  work  of  every 
group  shall  have  as  executives  and  spokesmen  persons 
trained  for  leadership  and  as  members  persons  trained 
to  require  adequate  leadership. 

Where  leaders  and  privates  in  civic  work  are  not 
properly  trained  either  before  they  take  responsibility 
or  after  they  assume  it,  the  general  public  will  often 
be  seriously  and  expensively  misled. 

Whatever  the  cause  for  which  any  group  stands 
it  is  better  for  its  community  that  the  cause  be  de- 
scribed and  urged  with  honesty,  earnestness  and  the 
highest  possible  efficiency. 

That  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  cities  and 
states  are  doing  what  civic  agencies  request  rather 
than  what  the  whole  public  wants  them  to  do,  few  real- 
ize. Yet  it  is  a  fact  so  full  of  promise  and  warning 
that  we  can  no  longer  safely  shut  our  eyes  to  its  mean- 
ing. 

While  we  are  all  more  or  less  familiar  with  in- 
terference by  "  politicians,"  "  party  managers  "  and 
"  bosses,"  and  other  outside  special  interests  working 
through  and  upon  politicians,  we  have  not  yet  accus- 
tomed ourselves  to  the  new  kind  of  outside  interfer- 
ence by  civic  agencies.  They  persuade  legislators  to 
vote  for  or  to  refuse  to  vote  for  projects.  They  induce 
cities  to  buy  parks  or  by  either  secret  lobbying  or  ex- 
tensive advertising  persuade  cities  against  buying  parks. 


TRAINING    FOR   VOLUNTEER    CIVIC    WORK  89 

The  proverbial  tempest  in  a  teapot  is  taking  place 
every  day  in  our  cities  and  states  when  civic  agencies 
representing  sometimes  not  one  half  of  one  per  cent, 
of  the  public,  too  often  representing  only  a  handful 
of  men  and  women,  set  in  motion  agitations  that 
quickly  lead  to  new  laws  and  new  expenditures.  In  a 
season  an  idea  that  originates  in  the  New  York  office 
of  a  national  foundation  has  by  dint  of  clever  press 
agenting  and  colporteuring  or  field  agenting  infected 
and  taxed  two  hundred  different  cities  from  ocean  to 
ocean. 

For  the  annual  picnic  of  the  Jolly  Bachelors  Club 
of  a  certain  city  an  option  was  secured  on  a  large  man- 
sion with  large  grounds.  Because  of  the  enormous 
advertising  that  would  result  from  a  great  Decoration 
Day  picnic  by  the  Jolly  Bachelors  Club,  the  premises 
were  rented  at  a  nominal  sum;  because  this  organiza- 
tion with  a  great  program  for  advertising  was  to  hold 
its  annual  picnic  on  these  grounds  the  street  railway 
company  made  special  arrangements  for  increasing  its 
service  to  accommodate  the  crowd ;  because  the  prestige 
of  having  served  this  crowd  would  help  them  through- 
out the  next  year  bandmasters  and  caterers  and  enter- 
tainers gave  their  services  at  little  or  no  cost.  The 
picnic  was  a  great  success.  Everybody  made  money, 
including  the  Jolly  Bachelors  Club.  When  I  asked  the 
man  who  was  showing  me  the  club's  profits  who  all 


90  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

were  in  the  Jolly  Bachelors  Club,  he  blushed  and 
pointed  to  himself! 

In  similar  ways  individuals  or  small  groups  are  able 
through  civic  work  to  set  in  motion  larger  groups, 
labour  unions,  church  clubs,  women's  clubs,  political 
forces,  newspapers,  etc.,  until  whole  communities  have 
done  and  paid  for  what  the  small  groups  set  out  to  have 
done. 

So  normal  is  this  procedure  that  it  is  becoming 
harder  every  year  to  take  any  forward  step  until  after 
private  agencies  by  experiment  have  pointed  the 
way. 

It  would  take  many  books  merely  to  cite  instances 
where  civic  workers  have  at  slight  or  great  expenditure 
of  time  and  money  persuaded  cities  and  states  to  take 
notable  forward  steps, —  and  notable  backward  steps, 
too.  Fortunately,  however,  there  is  something  about 
the  public  mind  and  civic  work  which  makes  civic  lead- 
ers much  more  effective  when  they  are  right  than  when 
they  are  wrong  so  that  the  instances  of  successful  oppo- 
sition by  civic  agencies  to  public  welfare  are  not  as 
numerous  as  are  the  instances  of  successful  furthering 
of  public  welfare. 

A  small  committee  of  Detroit  citizens  called  the 
Bureau  of  Governmental  Research  have  in  little  more 
than  a  year  led  that  city  of  over  500,000  population  to 
reform  its  school  business  methods,  its  police  and  fire 
departments,  its  methods  of  accounting,  its  hospital 


TRAINING   FOR   VOLUNTEER    CIVIC   WORK  91 

and  park  departments,  its  budget  procedure,  its  food 
inspection,  etc. 

A  similar  committee  of  one  hundred  men  in  Col- 
orado, working  through  fewer  than  a  dozen  paid  work- 
ers, gave  Denver  the  first  operation  report  of  any  city 
in  the  country,  a  new  budget  procedure,  a  school  sur- 
vey, a  constructive  survey  of  twenty-two  charitable 
institutions;  and  gave  to  the  State  of  Colorado  a  sur- 
vey of  all  state  departments  and  proposals  for  a  new 
school  code. 

The  board  of  aldermen  of  New  York  City  recently 
decided  to  investigate  school  needs  with  special  refer- 
ence to  overcrowding  and  to  facilities  for  industrial 
training.  This  was  not  a  political  action.  No  alder- 
man thought  of  this  inquiry.  Instead  it  was  suggested 
by  the  labour  unions  who  also  mobilized  parents'  asso- 
ciations to  petition  the  aldermen  for  such  an  inquiry. 
The  earlier  school  inquiry,  upon  which  New  York 
spent  over  $100,000  in  191 2,  was  first  suggested  and 
outlined  by  a  small  group  of  civic  workers.  The 
Cleveland  school  survey,  which  overturned  Cleveland's 
school  administration  in  19 16,  was  not  only  conceived 
but  was  paid  for  and  conducted  by  citizen  agencies. 

A  handful  of  women  in  Jackson,  Tennessee,  in  one 
year  brought  about  the  physical  examination  of  school 
children,  the  employment  of  visiting  nurses  for  the 
poor,  including  the  coloured  population,  and  summer 
instruction  of  mothers  in  the  care  of  babies. 


92  UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

Hundreds  of  attractive  rest  rooms  for  farm  women 
are  found  in  parks  or  in  pleasant  buildings  of  rural 
communities,  because  of  the  activities  of  women's 
clubs. 

In  New  Haven  a  civic  federation  of  men  and  women 
effected  in  1916  changes  in  the  city's  health  service, 
jails,  courts  and  housing;  secured  a  children's  building 
for  the  detention  and  care  of  children ;  drafted  an  anti- 
smoke  ordinance;  established  a  help-your-city  com- 
plaint bureau;  gave  lectures  on  thrift,  temperance  and 
moral  welfare;  conducted  playgrounds  until  the  city 
took  over  their  management;  conducted  a  clean  up 
week  and  campaigns  against  disease  breeding  flies, 
mosquitoes  and  rats. 

One  of  the  most  important  public  projects  which  any 
city  has  ever  considered,  the  plan  for  ridding  New 
York  City's  streets  of  the  nuisance  and  danger  of  the 
New  York  Central  Railroad's  tracks  and  trains,  has 
been  repeatedly  blocked  when  at  the  point  of  execution 
by  half  a  dozen  active  civic  agencies  representing  all 
told  fewer  than  5,000  members.  This,  mind  you,  in 
a  city  with  over  five  million  inhabitants  and  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  other  civic  bodies  representing  billions 
of  dollars  and  including  the  Merchants  Association 
and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  favoured  the  plans! 

How  have  the  handful  of  opponents  been  able  to  pre- 
vent projects  that  were  favoured  by  the  most  influen- 
tial forces  in  the  United  States  ?     The  principal  reason 


TRAINING    FOR    VOLUNTEER    CIVIC    WORK  93 

is  that  the  handful  opposed  to  this  plan  were  more 
efficient  in  their  civic  work.  They  studied  the  plan  to 
the  minutest  detail.  They  not  only  studied  but  they 
remembered.  They  not  only  remembered  but  they  saw 
to  it  that  fact  after  fact  was  placed  before  the  general 
public  and  legislators  so  that  newspaper  editors  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  who  talk  and  vote  could  not  be 
misled  by  general  argument  in  favour  of  the  plan. 
When  the  agencies  representing  billions  of  dollars  of 
business  came  before  the  city  officials  to  support  the 
plan,  they  showed  by  their  answers  and  by  frank  admis- 
sions that  they  were  merely  "  rubber  stamping  "  and 
megaphoning  arguments  handed  to  them  by  somebody 
else  and  that  they  themselves  had  not  studied  the  plan. 
This  lack  of  study  by  civic  bodies  was  so  flagrant  that 
the  mayor,  who  himself  was  favouring  the  plan,  pub- 
licly expressed  surprise  that  its  most  influential  advo- 
cates should  publicly  exhibit  their  lack  of  knowledge. 
Publicity  of  the  provable  defects  in  the  plan  was  so 
extensive  and  so  convincing,  thanks  to  the  concrete 
facts  available,  that  the  state  legislature  almost  unani- 
mously voted  to  send  the  plan  back  for  repairs,  to 
take  it  out  of  the  hands  of  the  officials  who  had  been 
urging  it,  and  if  necessary,  to  investigate  the  steps  by 
which  a  plan  with  so  many  defects  came  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  public. 

The  child  labour  laws  which  have  been  passed  by  a 
great  majority  of  states  and  by  the  national  govern- 


94 


UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 


ment  are  due  to  the  constant  peg,  peg,  peg,  or  rather  the 
constant  light,  light,  light  of  a  group  that  is  very 
small  in  numbers  but  very  large  when  acting  with  the 
momentum  and  the  appeal  of  and  truth  about  child 
labour. 

Few  communities  lack  civic  agencies  that  are  trying 
to  get  from  the  whole  public  something  which  will 
favour  a  small  part  of  the  public.  Naturally  such 
civic  work  thrives  upon  secrecy  and  misrepresentation 
and  upon  keeping  the  truth  from  the  public.  No  tool 
has  ever  been  found  by  the  forces  of  evil  and  selfish- 
ness that  can  help  them  as  effectively  in  misleading  the 
public  as  is  the  influential  civic  agency  which  is  not 
efficient  in  its  work,  which  does  not  study  before  it 
recommends  or  look  before  it  leaps. 

To  offset  such  activity  and  to  organize  the  public 
interest  and  vision  of  every  community,  the  other  kind 
of  civic  work  is  needed  which  asks  only  that  all  of 
us  shall  take  one  new  step  after  another  which  will 
remove  injustice  from  some  of  us  and  will  benefit  all 
of  us. 

What  your  city  has  already  decided  to  do  is  a  com- 
promise between  forces  of  yesterday.  This  compro- 
mise was  made  in  the  light  of  yesterday.  New  facts 
make  yesterday's  program  unsatisfactory  for  today. 
Communities  are  like  boys :  last  year's  sleeves  leave  a 
big  gap  at  the  wrist ;  to  notice  the  gap,  to  call  attention 
to  it,  to  point  out  how  it  should  be  corrected  will  always 


TRAINING    FOR   VOLUNTEER    CIVIC    WORK  95 

need  volunteer  civic  workers  in  addition  to  public  offi- 
cers, because  officers  who  represent  all  of  the  public 
are  in  duty  bound  not  to  press  proposals  that  the  whole 
public  or  a  majority  of  it  does  not  yet  understand  or 
want. 

This  civic  work  is  of  such  vast  importance  to  patriot- 
ism that  society  must  make  sure  that  it  is  trained  and 
that  each  of  us  is  trained  for  it. 

So  important  is  the  civic  leader  that  we  can  more 
easily  afford  not-yet-trained  mayors  than  we  can  afford 
untrained  civic  leaders.  If  your  chamber  of  commerce 
is  untrained  to  see  straight  and  to  want  straight  it  is 
almost  certain  that  your  city  government  is  far  behind 
the  times,  is  inefficient  and  wasteful  and  at  many  points 
is  unjust  if  not  dishonest. 

Aggressive  opposition  and  inspired  opposition  come 
more  often  from  civic  leaders  than  from  public  officers. 
In  fact,  public  officers  often  lead  best  after  they  have 
left  office  and  can  give  the  public  the  benefit  of  lessons 
learned  while  in  office,  without  being  hampered, 
wearied,  frightened  or  legitimately  restrained  by  their 
official  duties.  It  was  not  until  Theodore  Roosevelt 
was  an  ex-president  that  his  full  blown  progressiveness 
disclosed  itself. 

What  the  incoming  officers  of  any  city  or  state  will 
try  to  do,  depends  very  largely  upon  what  organized 
groups  of  civic  workers  were  strongly  urging  long 
before  and  during  the  campaign.     More  and  more  po- 


g6  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

litical  parties  for  their  own  sakes  are  trying  to  find  out 
when  making  platforms  what  civic  agencies  have  been 
educating  their  communities  to  desire. 

How  many  of  us  in  the  United  States  are  connected 
with  one  or  more  civic  bodies,  no  census  shows.  There 
are  more  individual  memberships  than  there  are  sep- 
arate persons  belonging  because  many  people  belong  to 
a  large  number  of  different  agencies.  In  fact,  there 
are  people  who  have  a  passion  for  belonging  to  organ- 
izations. There  are  farmers  who  will  neglect  their 
cattle  and  their  fields  to  help  organize  some  new  union. 
In  the  south,  the  negro's  weakness  for  clubs  and  lodges 
has  been  described  and  ridiculed  in  story  and  song,  and 
yet  their  susceptibility  is  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  with  which  civilization  can  build. 

Our  reputation  for  "belonging"  or  "jine-ing"  I 
once  heard  explained  to  audiences  in  a  small  German 
village  who  came  regularly  to  my  hotel  to  see  the  only 
American  except  a  returned  German  who  had  ever 
visited  this  village.  The  village  Nestor,  a  former  kin- 
dergartner,  then  over  eighty,  used  me  as  his  starting 
point  for  explaining  America  to  these  very  responsive 
audiences.  His  favourite  peroration  was :  "  In 
America  everybody  is  organized.  Lawyers  are  organ- 
ized. Bankers  are  organized.  Business  men  are 
organized.  Women  are  organized.  Parents  are  or- 
ganized. Young  people  are  organized.  Children  are 
organized.     Finally,  those  who  are  not  organized  go 


TRAINING   FOR   VOLUNTEER    CIVIC   WORK  97 

off  all  by  themselves  and  organize  The  Society  for  the 
Unorganized." 

It  is  no  longer  safe  to  assume  that  social  and  literary 
organizations  are  not  doing  civic  work  of  high  quality. 
On  the  contrary  the  bridge  club  of  yesterday  is  today 
an  active  and  determined  baby  saving  club;  the  art 
club  discovers  that  its  city  needs  a  campaign  in  beauty 
making  and  gives  an  exhibit  on  city  planning;  the 
dance  club  finds  that  its  members  who  have  come  to 
like  many  of  the  same  things  can,  if  they  will  act 
promptly,  influence  the  community  to  save  fifty  acres 
for  a  town  park  or  to  build  a  consolidated  school  for 
country  children. 

Certain  it  is  that  our  extra-governmental  civic 
agencies  are  so  numerous,  so  widespread,  so  many 
sided  and  so  productive  in  their  activity  that  it  is  not 
an  exaggeration  to  say  that  our  civic  bodies  are  more 
potent  agencies  of  enlightenment  and  patriotism  than 
even  our  universities  and  extension  courses. 

From  infancy  boys  and  girls  and  young  men  and 
women  should  be  trained  with  special  reference  not 
merely  to  their  regular  duties  as  citizens  but  to  the 
opportunities  and  duties  of  the  quasi-public  bodies 
which  belong  in  the  category  of  civic  work.  How  ex- 
tensive are  the  beginnings  already  made  is  illustrated 
by  the  accompanying  cut  from  High  Spots  in  New 
York  Schools,  which  shows  the  outside  pupil  activities 
of  a  boys'  high  school. 


gg  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

To  all  civic  bodies  may  be  commended  a  pledge 
which  is  required  of  applicants  for  membership  in  the 
Arista  League,  the  honour  society  of  New  York  City 
high  schools: 

"  I  agree  to  be  active  in  the  interests  of  the  school,  to 
keep  a  high  record  in  scholarship,  to  be  manly  in  my  con- 
duct, and  to  perform  cheerfully  and  reliably  any  tasks 
assigned  to  me  for  the  benefit  of  the  school.  In  case  I 
am  unable  to  do  the  work  assigned  me  at  any  time,  I 
promise  to  make  adequate  provision  to  get  it  done  prop- 
erly. I  promise  that  I  will  never  be  unworthy  of  any 
trust  or  responsibility  placed  upon  me." 

To  increase  by  even  ten  per  cent,  the  value  of  extra- 
governmental  activities  such  as  those  above  men- 
tioned, would  do  vastly  more  for  this  country  than 
several  gifts  of  a  hundred  million  dollars  each  to  new 
private  foundations.  That  there  is  much  room  for 
increasing  efficiency  is  universally  admitted.  It  is  not 
uncommon  for  a  real  estate  association,  labour  union 
or  chamber  of  commerce  —  and  experienced  and  sup- 
posedly efficient  ones  too  —  to  call  a  meeting  at  eight 
o'clock ;  to  expect  members  to  drop  in  anywhere  from 
eight  to  nine ;  to  find  a  quorum  at  nine ;  to  waste  from 
two  to  four  hours  in  desultory  conversation  or  irrele- 
vant speechmaking  by  the  same  few  who  have 
harangued  every  other  meeting  for  years.  In  your 
community  would  it  materially  expedite  municipal 
reform  if  certain  civic  bodies  could  be  persuaded  to 


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100  UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

muzzle  inveterate  talkers  either  by  election  to  office  or 
by  substitution  of  some  one  else  to  make  the  public 
arguments  ? 

Nor  is  waste  of  time  confined  to  men's  meetings. 
Change  the  hour  from  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  to 
two  in  the  afternoon,  and  there  is  the  same  late  begin- 
ning, futile  talking  and  irrelevance  and  waste  of  time  in 
thousands  of  women's  clubs.  Change  the  setting  from 
club  to  college  and  the  same  can  be  said  of  innumera- 
ble faculty  meetings. 

Only  conscientious  training  of  ourselves  and  of 
others  will  prevent  the  continuance  of  this  waste  which 
is  no  less  anti-social  in  its  consequences  just  because 
it  is  private  rather  than  official  waste.  Once,  just 
before  a  conference  at  which  he  was  to  preside,  Mr. 
George  W.  Wickersham,  later  attorney  general  of  the 
United  States,  remarked  that  he  would  be  happier  if 
he  could  only  have  the  speakers  go  to  an  anteroom  and 
recite  their  introductions  so  that  they  could  get  down  to 
business  at  the  conference. 

Merely  from  the  standpoint  of  humaneness  a  nation- 
wide crusade  is  needed  to  secure  brevity  and  pithiness 
at  public  gatherings.  How  many  times  have  you  lived 
through  experiences  similar  to  the  following: 

In  May,  19 12,  several  civic  agencies  in  the  four 
Oranges  of  New  Jersey,  Orange,  East  Orange,  South 
Orange,  West  Orange,  decided  that  the  time  had  come 
to  organize  some  co-operative  civic  work  in  the  interest 


TRAINING    FOR    VOLUNTEER    CIVIC    WORK  IOI 

of  all  the  Oranges.  To  insure  attendance  by  the  people 
whose  moral  and  financial  support  was  needed,  it  was 
proposed  to  invite  two  nation-wide  celebrities  to  speak. 
I  was  asked  if  I  would  outline  a  civic  program  for  the 
four  Oranges.  In  spite  of  my  remonstrance  that  it 
was  too  much  to  hope  for  serious  consideration  of  a 
concrete  civic  program  from  an  audience  under  the 
spell  of  two  great  orators,  the  meeting  was  planned, 
and  the  date  set  six  months  in  advance.  Never  had 
there  been  such  a  meeting  in  New  Jersey.  From  miles 
around  distinguished  men  and  women  came  to  the 
banquet  and  the  overflow  banquet. 

The  first  speaker  talked  an  hour  and  twenty  minutes. 
After  appropriate  introduction,  the  second  speaker 
took  seventeen  minutes  to  get  started  and  talked  over 
an  hour.  After  half  past  ten,  to  an  audience  that  gath- 
ered at  six-thirty  in  order  to  have  time  for  the  serious 
consideration  of  a  community  plan,  the  toastmaster 
took  twelve  minutes  explaining  the  need  for  a  civic  pro- 
gram and  then  introduced  the  speaker  who  was  to 
outline  that  program.  For  the  reader's  relief  let  it  be 
said  that  only  two  minutes  were  taken  by  this  speaker. 

Ten  omnipresent  tendencies  which  endanger  volun- 
teer civic  work  should  be  kept  in  mind  by  each  individ- 
ual whether  thinking  of  himself  as  beneficiary  or  as 
giver  of  civic  work. 

Danger  i:  That  too  many  things  will  be  undertaken 
by  an  agency  or  a  member.     Not  infrequently  people 


102  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

gauge  their  activity  and  contribution  by  the  number  of 
organizations  to  which  they  belong,  especially  if  they  are 
on  committees.  Echo  of  this  is  found  in  Who's  Who 
where  men  give  learned  societies  to  which  they  belong  in 
seeming  unconsciousness  of  the  fact  that  everybody  else 
knows  that  anybody  can  belong  to  these  societies  who  will 
pay  from  two  to  five  dollars  a  year  dues.  The  committee 
repeater,  who  is  so  busy  going  from  one  committee  meet- 
ing to  the  next  so  that  she  can  finish  no  work  for  any 
committee,  must  be  helped  to  see  herself  as  her  actual 
work  reflects  her. 

Danger  2:  That  professional  specially  trained  persons 
will  be  employed  when  not  needed  and  will  absorb  the 
duties  and  growth  that  belong  to  volunteers.  As  stated 
above,  too  much  centralization  fails  to  train  understudies, 
paralyzes  initiative,  develops  autocracy  in  popular  bodies 
whose  only  warrant  for  existence  is  that  they  are  demo- 
cratically governed. 

Last  winter  an  organization  of  three  thousand  business 
men  asked  for  a  hearing  before  a  state  legislature.  In- 
stead of  the  trainloads  of  merchants  whom  the  news  items 
had  led  the  legislature  to  expect  there  appeared  only  one 
man  to  speak  for  them :  he  was  not  a  merchant ;  his 
business  was  gathering  statistics ;  he  was  a  trained,  sal- 
aried leader,  a  square  peg  in  a  round  hole,  an  unwelcome 
representative  who  therefore  was  a  hindrance  to  the 
cause  he  wished  to  help. 

Danger  3:  That  agencies  will  fail  to  employ  specially 
trained  persons  when  zvork  has  grown  beyond  the  capacity 
of  part  time  untrained  persons.  Because  it  is  dangerous 
for  volunteers  to  abdicate  responsibility  and  initiative  in 
favour  of  paid  workers  is  a  reason  for  not  abdicating  and 


TRAINING    FOR    VOLUNTEER    CIVIC    WORK  IO3 

is  not  a  reason  for  failing  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
volunteers  by  employing  full  time  trained  workers  when 
they  are  needed. 

Danger  4:  That  club  politics  zvill  displace  club  service 
in  membership's  interest.  Almost  every  practice  that  is 
associated  with  the  evil  repute  of  politics  in  national  and 
state  affairs  is  found  in  private  organizations. 

Personal  scandal  and  villification  have  made  many 
national  and  state  conventions  a  mere  scramble  for  office 
and  for  factional  gain. 

It  was  my  privilege  last  year  to  attend  a  state  federation 
of  women's  clubs.  The  women  from  one  city  came  to 
that  convention  determined  to  elect  a  local  leader  for  state 
leader.  A  preliminary  campaign  had  been  conducted  by 
correspondence  and  personal  visit.  On  the  very  first  day 
a  well  organized  claque  was  in  evidence.  Several  men 
accustomed  to  gauging  the  trend  of  forces  in  political 
gatherings  felt  sure  that  this  organized  group  would  suc- 
ceed in  forcing  its  will  upon  the  convention.  By  a  narrow 
majority  this  candidate  was  defeated.  Immediately 
thereafter  the  newspapers  of  her  city  printed  attacks  upon 
the  outgoing  president ;  then  several  of  the  local  organiza- 
tions seceded  from  the  state  organization ;  finally  vicious 
personal  attacks  were  made  upon  different  women  held  to 
be  responsible  for  losing  the  election. 

This  is  a  mild  case  which  can  be  duplicated  in  numerous 
other  private  organizations.  For  years  the  dentists  and 
dental  societies  in  one  of  our  large  cities  have  been  domi- 
nated, driven,  blackguarded,  almost  blackmailed,  by  a 
small  coterie  of  dentists  obviously  trying  to  use  the  organ- 
ization for  personal  advancement. 

Danger  5:     That  agencies  will  fall  into  the  hands  of 


104  UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

busybodies,  repeaters  and  climbers,  who  want  to  use 
them  instead  of  being  of  use  to  them.  "  What  are  we 
meeting  as  today?"  is  not  only  a  question  actually  asked 
by  a  clique  in  one  of  our  large  cities  but  is  symbolic  of 
conditions  that  are  still  too  general. 

Danger  6:  That  agencies  started  as  impersonal  asso- 
ciations of  several  individuals  will  re-elect  the  same  offi- 
cers so  often  that  the  agencies  themselves  will  come  to  be 
regarded  as  personal  mouthpieces  of  individuals. 

Danger  /;  That  agencies  will  be  satisfied  with  blind 
alley,  Hash-in-the-pan  self -advertising.  The  mere  state- 
ment of  this  danger  will  recall  to  readers  innumerable 
mass  meetings,  enthusiastic  interviews,  resolutions  or  per- 
haps final  reports  that  have  come  to  naught.  For  ex- 
ample, in  1914,  a  committee  of  citizens  answered  the 
mayors  call  to  investigate  conditions  of  unemployment  in 
greater  New  York.  One  of  the  subcommittees  investi- 
gated methods  of  employing  dock  labourers  or  longshore- 
men. In  October,  1916,  an  elaborate  report  was  pub- 
lished which  showed  that  the  condition  of  longshoremen 
was  a  disgrace  and  menace  to  New  York's  business  and 
government.  Various  constructive  suggestions  were 
made,  yet  not  a  syllable  about  that  report  appeared  in  a 
daily  paper,  and  not  a  step  was  taken  for  ten  months 
when  a  woman  school  principal  set  out  to  investigate  these 
same  conditions,  unearthed  this  report  and  set  various 
civic  forces  in  motion  to  carry  out  the  constructive 
suggestions.  A  census  of  foundling  proposals  and 
studies  would  help  American  civic  agencies. 

Danger  8:  That  there  are  no  reports  of  activities  or 
that  the  reports  are  in  such  vague  terms  as  to  be  useless. 
Judged  only  from  the  standpoint  of  making  friends,  civic 


TRAINING    FOR   VOLUNTEER    CIVIC    WORK  105 

reporting  is  still  quite  generally  wasteful.  It  is  doubtful 
if  any  citizen  body  has  a  moral  right  to  withhold  from  the 
public  specific  information  that  would  lead  to  public 
action  or  at  least  lodge  responsibility  upon  public 
shoulders  if  the  facts  were  published. 

Danger  9:  That  private  agencies  will  outlive  their 
programs  and  be  dead  "without  knowing  it.  Strange  as  it 
may  seem  to  those  who  have  not  studied  civic  bodies,  it 
is  almost  impossible  for  an  agency  to  discontinue  its  activ- 
ity even  though  there  is  nothing  for  it  to  do  but  write 
appeals  and  spend  money.  There  are  so  many  instances 
where  civic  agencies  are  actually  standing  in  the  way  of 
public  progress  that  there  is  a  strong  movement  through- 
out the  United  States  to  give  to  state  legislatures  or 
officers  the  power  to  apportion  for  public  use  endowments 
and  properties  held  by  obsolete  forms  of  charitable  and 
educational  activity.  In  Philadelphia,  for  instance,  per- 
sons well  informed  as  to  needs  of  children  go  to  bed  every 
night  in  deadly  fear  lest  the  morning  papers  will  announce 
that  another  obstinate  rich  man  or  woman  has  died  and 
left  another  many-million-dollar  endowment  for  another 
orphanage,  at  a  time  when  public  intelligence  says  that 
existing  orphanages  should  distribute  their  children 
among  the  always  available  childless  homes. 

Danger  10:  That  private  agencies  will  be  used  for 
political  purposes  by  public  officers.  No  sooner  does  a 
civic  agency  gain  public  confidence  by  its  impartial  crit- 
icism of  government  conditions  and  methods  than  govern- 
ment officials  try  to  "  take  it  into  camp  "  by  appointing  its 
leaders  to  salaried  or  honorary  positions.  One  great 
reform  after  another  has  gone  to  pieces  because  its  advo- 
cates have  been  treated  so  considerately  or  flatteringly  by 


106  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

public  officers  that  they  have  lost  ability  or  desire  to  see 
defects.  New  York  City's  municipal  campaign  of  1917 
centres  in  the  claim  that  civic  agencies  not  responsible  to 
the  public  rather  than  officers  elected  by  the  public  have 
been  running  the  city.  Civic  agencies  cannot  afford  to 
give  up  their  permanent  asset  —  outside  point  of  view 
and  freedom  —  for  the  temporary  advantage  of  special 
influence  upon  officials.  The  minute  a  civic  agency  begins 
to  keep  secrets  from  its  client,  the  public,  its  probabilities 
for  harm  exceed  its  probabilities  for  good,  and  decay  has 
set  in. 

Among  the  fundamentals  of  preparedness  for  volun- 
tary civic  activity  are  five : 

1.  Team-mindedness :  It  is  no  small  task  to  look  at 
questions  my-group-ly  rather  than  my-self-ly. 
People  who  cannot  do  team  work  with  their  own 
civic  agencies  will  find  it  practically  impossible  to 
think  of  large  public  questions  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  larger  team  involved.  The  labourer  who  has 
achieved  the  subordination  of  self,  who  looks  at 
things  primarily  from  the  standpoint  of  his  labour 
union,  is  much  more  apt  to  respond  to  the  call  of  all- 
citizenship  than  the  labourer  who  still  plays  a  lone 
hand. 

There  is  more  or  less  of  the  spirit  of  martyrdom 
called  for  in  every  unofficial  activity;  for  example, 
willingness  to  go  to  a  group  meeting  because  one's 
group  is  meeting,  notwithstanding  reason  for  believ- 
ing that  from  the  purely  personal  point  of  view 
time  will  be  wasted. 

2.  Habit    of    punctuality :    This     fundamental    need 


TRAINING   FOR   VOLUNTEER   CIVIC   WORK  IO7 

speaks  for  itself  although  the  habit  is  found  so  sel- 
dom that  it  needs  many  special  advocates  and  much 
intensive  cultivation. 

Habit  of  questioning  before  acting:  "  We'll  vote 
first  and  discuss  afterwards,"  is  a  principle  which 
may  have  built  up  some  of  our  big  corporations.  It 
may  even  build  up  society  endowments  and  pay- 
rolls. But  it  cannot  build  up  the  feeling  and  seeing 
and  acting  strength  of  civic  agencies.  It  is  a  method 
which  makes  bosses  just  as  truly  in  civic  bodies  as  in 
political  bodies.  In  too  many  organizations  it  is 
impossible  for  more  than  one  or  two  persons  to 
express  an  opinion.  They  have  the  force  to  swing 
the  majority;  and  after  the  majority,  however  small 
and  however  fictitious,  has  voted  its  decision  and 
after  the  quorum  which  may  be  a  very  small  mi- 
nority, has  taken  a  position,  the  other  members  feel 
bound  at  least  to  refrain  from  criticizing. 

For  example,  in  May,  191 7,  a  committe  of  the 
New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce  wrote  a  report 
severely  criticizing  the  public  schools  of  New  York : 
the  great  mass  of  children  were  unclean,  untruthful, 
impolite,  and  indifferent  to  mistakes;  the  teaching 
force  was  incompetent,  inefficient  and  indifferent  to 
the  individual  welfare  of  the  children.  Although 
signed  by  only  seven  names  and  actually  participated 
in  by  fewer  still,  this  criticism  went  out  as  the  ex- 
pression of  several  thousand  chamber  of  commerce 
members.  In  this  particular  case  protest  from 
within  secured  a  modification  of  the  report.  Ninety- 
nine  per  cent,  of  the  membership,  however,  never 
asked  a  question. 


108  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

One  custom  is  widely  operating  to  nullify  the  good 
intent  and  good  work  of  civic  bodies,  namely  that  of 
telegraphing  or  writing  to  legislators  and  governors 
and  presidents  without  any  evidence  or  reason  except 
that  some  other  society  or  civic  leader  by  telephone 
or  letter  sends  out  an  S.  O.  S.  call.  A  congressman 
told  me  this  summer  that  he  was  interested  to  see 
how  one  hundred  telegrams  of  protest  against  a 
position  taken  by  him  had  actually  originated.  This 
answer  he  obtained  from  one  business  man  after 
another:  "Why,  the  secretary  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce   telephoned    me   and    said   that   Banker 

A and  Lawyer  B asked  would  I  let  them 

sign  my  name  to  that  telegram.  That's  all." 
4.  The  habit  of  independent  analysis  and  deliberation: 
There  is  plenty  of  time  to  wait  for  any  public  im- 
provement until  the  public  knows  why  it  needs  and 
wants  that  improvement.  There  is  plenty  of  time 
for  any  civic  worker  or  for  the  membership  of  a 
civic  agency  to  consider  why  it  should  act,  what  it 
will  gain  by  acting,  why  it  may  not  be  advisable, — 
before  it  goes  on  record.  There  can  be  no  Democ- 
racy where  there  is  not  understanding,  as  the  Rus- 
sian revolution  is  sadly  and  dramatically  demon- 
strating. Least  of  all  can  there  be  Democracy  in  an 
organization  which  silences  the  minority.  The  rea- 
son given  by  Governor  Hughes  for  removing  Man- 
hattan's borough  president,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
this  borough  president  had  received  an  overwhelming 
vote  for  re-election,  should  be  embodied  in  a  working 
philosophy  of  all  club  members  :  "  The  majority,  no 
matter  how  large,  has  no  right  to  impose  upon  a 


TRAINING    FOR    VOLUNTEER    CIVIC    WORK  IOO, 

minority,  no  matter  how  small,  an  incompetent  gov- 
ernment." 

The  necessity  of  being  team-minded  is  entirely 
compatible  with  the  necessity  of  having  the  habit  of 
independent  analysis.  Team-mindedness  ceases  to 
be  a  virtue  and  becomes  a  menace  when  independent 
analysis  is  not  practised. 

The  habit  of  exacting  from  government  the  full 
measure  of  zvhat  government  has  undertaken  to  do: 
Among  the  minimum  essentials  of  every  well  trained 
citizen  should  be  the  understanding  that  his  public 
officers  and  employes  are  better  equipped  or  ought  to 
be  better  equipped  to  do  any  job  by  wholesale  than 
is  a  citizen  committee.  When,  therefore,  a  problem 
arises  that  belongs  to  the  whole  public  there  is  no 
excuse  for  any  civic  body  carrying  any  larger  part 
of  that  load  than  it  is  compelled  to  carry.  Its  motive 
should  be  merely  to  use  its  own  resources  to  accel- 
erate officials,  facilitate  their  work,  or  to  demon- 
strate to  them  and  the  public  the  need  for  every- 
body's getting  under  the  load  through  everybody's 
officials. 

For  example,  the  government  food  administration 
commission  sent  word  to  the  Institute  for  Public 
Service  asking  if  we  would  ascertain  the  price  of 
bread  in  small  bakeries  and  its  relation  to  the  price 
of  flour.  We  had  a  small  staff  and  three  days  in 
which  to  do  the  work.  If  all  of  us  had  given  all 
our  time  we  could  have  hoped  to  learn  about  possibly 
200  small  bakeries.  In  getting  the  information 
that  way  we  could  have  accomplished  relatively  little 
educationally  among  the  bakers.     Two  steps  were 


110  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

taken  to  broaden  the  educational  influence  and  to 
increase  the  returns.  The  director  of  cooking  of  the 
board  of  education  was  interested  and  sent  three 
blanks  each  to  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  teach- 
ers. The  commissioner  of  health  was  interested  and 
detailed  fifty  inspectors  who  in  one  day  returned 
facts  for  five  hundred  bakeries. 

When  later  Mayor  Mitchel  appointed  a  food  aid 
committee  to  interest  all  classes  in  food  conservation, 
he  made  up  the  committee  chiefly  of  private  citizens 
and  agencies  and  failed  even  to  include  the  health 
department's  bureau  of  food  and  drugs  which  for 
several  years  has  been  developing  its  influence  and 
effective  educational  methods  and  which  will  remain 
long  after  the  present  emergency  expires.  At  the 
suggestion  of  a  citizen  agency  Mayor  Mitchel  ap- 
pointed the  director  of  the  bureau  of  food  and  drugs 
with  the  thought  that  whatever  is  gained  by  this 
present  emergency  propaganda  will  be  incorporated 
in  the  permanent  program  and  strength  of  the  health 
department. 

Each  of  the  foregoing  five  fundamentals  is  capable 
of  training.  Each  of  us  can  easily  tell  for  himself 
whether  he  has  and  habitually  practises  the  five  quali- 
ties here  listed  as  essential  and  each  can  tell  for  the 
agencies  he  belongs  to  and  other  agencies  he  observes 
how  far  if  at  all,  all  or  any  of  the  ten  dangers  above 
listed  are  in  evidence. 

Any  effort,  however,  to  begin  the  right  kind  of  train- 
ing by  wholesale  must  begin  with  us  before  we  are 


TRAINING   FOR   VOLUNTEER    CIVIC    WORK  III 

adults  and  can  be  most  effectively  directed  through  the 
public  schools.  The  importance  of  it  for  adults  has 
been  recognized  by  the  Municipal  University,  Akron, 
which  in  a  community  lecture  course  for  the  session  of 
1917-1918  is  taking  up  subjects  which  include  the 
seven  following : 

1.  Brief  introduction  to  sociological  study. 

2.  Causes  of   social  maladjustment  —  physical,  social, 
industrial. 

3.  Social  effects  of  readjustment. 

4.  Technique  of  social  effort. 

5.  The  larger  conception  of  public  health. 

6.  New  ideals  of  education. 

7.  Social  legislation. 

Public  schools  have  already  proved  their  efficacy  in 
country  as  well  as  in  city.  It  is  a  romantic  story  which 
children's  clubs  are  telling  in  team  work  for  better 
school  spirit,  better  farms,  better  towns,  better  homes 
and  better  citizenship. 

The  reciprocal  relation  of  non-governmental  civic 
agencies  to  governmental  civic  agencies  is  illustrated 
by  an  outline  of  A  Lesson  in  Civics  from  Pippa 
Passes,  which  I  was  prompted  to  prepare  by  several 
experiences  where  charitable  agencies  actively  opposed 
city  wide  reforms  on  the  ground  that  they  would  make 
private  charity  unnecessary.  A  Y.  W.  C.  A.  cannot 
afford  to  be  so  enthusiastic  about  an  enrolment  of 
one  thousand  girls  that  it  will  overlook  its  obligation 


112  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

A  Lesson  in  Civics 
from 
"  Pippa  Passes  " 
Introduction 

Robert  Browning's  "  Pippa  Passes  "  "  is  hinged  on  the  chance 
appearance  of  Pippa,  a  poor  child,  at  work  all  the  year  round 
(save  one  day)  at  the  silk  mills  at  Asolo,  in  Northern  Italy,  at 
critical  moments  in  the  spiritual  life-history  of  the  leading  char- 
acters in  the  play.  Just  when  their  emotions,  passions,  motives 
are  swinging  backwards  and  forwards  Pippa  passes  by  singing 
some  refrain,  and  her  voice  determines  the  actions  and  fashions 
the  destinies  of  men  and  women  to  whom  she  is  unknown." 

Unconscious  influence  is  sometimes  underemphasized  by  social 
workers. 

Conscious  influence  is  sometimes  underemphasized  by  the 
religious-minded,  by  beauty-makers  and  truth-seekers  and  by 
philanthropists  and  educators  endeavoring  to  further  human 
happiness. 

If  those  who  see  needs  could  learn  the  language  with  which 
those  having  extra  time  and  extra  money  describe  life's  most 
vital  truths,  both  conscious  and  unconscious  influence  would  be 
continuously  employed  to  prevent  government  from  manufactur- 
ing wretchedness,  sickness,  crime  and  incapacity. 

Pippa  passed 

Holiday  makers,  villagers,  mill  hands,  street  girls,  students  of 
painting  and  sculpture,  drunken  revelers,  procurers,  police 
officers,  municipal  officials,  adventurers,  employers,  victims, 
victimizers. 

Affluence,  penury,  mansion,  hovel,  sanctuary,  grog  shop. 

Pippa  unconsciously  influenced 

Directly :  two  of  "  Asolo's  four  happiest  ones,"  and  two  others. 
Indirectly:  a  paramour,  a  bride,  a  mother  and  a  steward. 
Those    who    are    happy,    cheerful,    buoyant,    confident,    radiate 
happiness,  cheer,  buoyancy,  confidence. 


TRAINING   FOR  VOLUNTEER    CIVIC   WORK         II3 

Self-depreciation  and  ingrowing  thoughts  are  antisocial  and 
profligate : 

"  All  service  ranks  the  same 
With  God,  whose  puppets  best  and  worst 
Are  we;  there  is  no  last  nor  first." 

Pippa  passed  without  influencing 
Tempters,  tormenters,  misguided  mill  girls,  drunken  revelers, 

procurers,  a  trust-stealing,  child-ruining  city  official. 
Organized  forces  of  evil  working  consciously  and  intelligently 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  each  year. 

The  lesson  in  civics 

Pippa  escaped  harm  by  accident. 

Pippa  saved  souls  by  accident. 

To  rely  upon  accident  for  individual  or  social  improvement  is 
gambling. 

Pippa  returned  to  her  garret  to  wind  silk  "the  whole  year 
round  to  earn  just  bread  and  milk." 

To  confine  her  singing  to  one  holiday  is  wasteful. 

Pippa's  exuberance  was  due  to  ignorance  of  dangers  and  evils 
that  abounded  in  Asolo. 

To  combat  temptation,  crime,  injustice  and  overwork  by  ig- 
norance by  "  unconscious  influence "  or  by  "  irresponsible 
benevolence  "  has  proved  ineffective  in  fire  protection,  health 
protection,  education,  penology,  charity  and  religion. 

Human  experience,  as  well  as  religious  precept,  qualifies  the 
statement :     "  All  service   ranks  the  same  with  God." 

Individual  growth  and  social  progress  require  both  organised 
opposition  to  evil  and  organized  assertion  of  the  right  to  be 
free  from  organized  temptation,  to  be  educated,  to  be  re- 
fined, to  be  industrially  and  socially  efficient,  to  be  morally 
and  physically  strong. 

Only  by  organization  can  communities  utilise  every  day  in  the 
year  the  aspirations,  religious  motives  and  love  of  one's 
fellow-man  that  are  epitomized  in  Pippa's  philosophy  and 
song. 


114  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

to  use  its  knowledge  in  the  interest  of  one  million  girls. 
This,  by  the  way,  is  by  no  means  an  infrequent  atti- 
tude among  private  agencies.  A  second  reason  for 
reproducing  the  outline  here  is  to  suggest  to  civic 
agencies  that  by  having  calendars  or  orders  of  pro- 
ceedings or  outlines  of  talks,  they  engage  the  eyes  as 
well  as  the  ears  of  conferees  and  greatly  increase  the 
effectiveness  of  statements  or  appeals. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TRAINING    FOR    DRILLMASTERS    AND    TEACHERS 

There  can  be  no  drilled  army  without  drillmasters. 
There  can  be  no  teaching  without  teachers. 

The  importance  of  preparing  drillmasters  and  teach- 
ers for  their  patriotic  service  has  heretofore  been 
neglected  in  spite  of  our  general  impression  that  there 
are  too  many  teachers  already  on  the  market  and  too 
many  drillmasters  seeking  employment.  If  universal 
training  for  military  service  becomes  the  rule  we  shall 
need  in  America  an  army  of  drillmasters  larger  than 
our  present  standing  army  of  privates.  For  meeting 
this  demand  slight  provision  has  thus  far  been  made. 

Drillmasters  are  needed,  however,  not  merely  for  the 
manual  of  arms  and  for  arts  of  warfare,  but  for  the 
arts  of  peace  as  well.  West  Point  now  sees  that  the 
manual  of  living  is  as  important  as  the  manual  of  arms. 
Proposals  are  being  made  to  convert  West  Point  into 
a  training  school  for  teachers  and  drillmasters  because 
the  first  thing  that  happens  in  wartime  is  that  prac- 
tically every  available  West  Pointer  must  give  his 
time  to  disciplining  and  educating  privates  and  other 
drillmasters. 

"5 


Il6  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

In  times  of  peace  army  officers  are  apt  to  be  called 
upon  to  help  settle  riots,  take  temporary  control  of 
a  city,  or  meet  emergencies  like  floods,  during  which 
time  the  arts  of  peace  must  be  uppermost  in  their 
minds.  So  in  times  of  war  sanitary  camps  are  more 
important  than  airships.  The  management  of  cap- 
tured countries  imposes  upon  armies  the  civil  govern- 
ment of  those  countries.  Yesterday's  army  sergeant 
is  today's  police  sergeant  or  health  officer  or  fire  com- 
missioner or  food  distributor  or  newspaper  censor. 

Industry  and  commerce  have  their  drillmasters. 
The  foreman  or  superintendent  of  a  factory  who  is  not 
a  competent  drillmaster  often  proves  more  expensive 
than  a  fire.  No  conservation  work  is  more  impor- 
tant than  industrial  employment  training  which  will 
prevent  failure  by  discovering  each  person's  ability 
and  fitting  it  to  the  right  job.  Whether  such  con- 
servation work  is  successful  or  not  depends  upon  its 
drillmasters. 

Every  person's  ability  to  drill  others  and  to  teach 
others  should  be  thoroughly  tried  out  during  three  pe- 
riods of  state  supervision :  first,  while  going  to  school, 
no  matter  what  school,  private,  public,  parochial 
or  home;  second,  while  taking  continuation  courses 
in  the  arts  and  visions  of  citizenship  in  connection  with 
regular  employment  up  to  the  age  of  sixteen  or  seven- 
teen; and  third,  while  taking  whatever  training  for 
war  or  citizenship   may  later  be   made   compulsory. 


TRAINING    FOR    DRILLLMASTERS    AND    TEACHERS        117 

Not  only  is  it  easier  to  make  these  tests  while  the 
persons  to  be  tested  are  under  state  supervision,  but 
it  is  the  state's  obligation  to  use  that  opportunity  for 
itself  and  for  the  individuals  it  trains. 

Because  every  business  is  a  training  school  for 
drillmasters,  whether  we  are  conscious  of  it  or  not  and 
whether  we  want  it  or  not,  it  behooves  our  govern- 
ments of  city,  state  and  nation  to  foster  every  sound 
plan  for  raising  the  ethical  and  business  standards  of 
private  employment. 

No  training  which  the  state  can  give  through  pub- 
lic schools  or  military  camps  or  extension  lectures 
can  render  privates  or  foremen  immune  against  the 
deteriorating  influence  of  incompetent,  wasteful  and 
low-motived  private  employment. 

One  hundred  thousand  men  inured  to  the  demoral- 
izing habits  of  tardiness,  slovenliness,  wastefulness, 
soldiering,  vague  and  low  ideas,  are  a  poor  founda- 
tion for  aggression  or  defence  in  either  war  or  peace. 

Every  employer  is  one  of  patriotism's  drillmasters. 
So  is  every  subordinate  of  the  employer,  and  every 
governor,  every  mayor,  every  police  commissioner.  It 
is  because  in  our  system  we  never  can  tell  today  who  is 
to  be  our  drillmaster  tomorrow  that  we  need  as  a 
nation  to  take  a  census  of  our  plans  and  means  for 
discovering,   promoting   and   training   drillmasters. 

Because  a  person  has  not  yet  shown  qualifications 
for  drilling  others  is  no  reason  that  he  does  not  possess 


Il8  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

them  to  a  high  degree.  Three  days  before  Ulysses  S. 
Grant  led  a  small  force  to  victory  at  the  inconspicu- 
ous battle  of  Belmont,  Missouri,  in  1861,  he  was  not 
suspected  of  exceptional  leadership  qualities.  The 
early  acquaintances  of  James  J.  Hill  did  not  prophesy 
for  him  a  giant's  role  as  drillmaster  of  railroad  build- 
ers. When  it  was  first  proposed  to  elect  an  ex-college 
president,  Woodrow  Wilson,  as  president  of  the 
United  States,  not  a  handful  of  men  out  of  twenty 
million,  dreamt  that  he  would  develop  unexampled 
qualifications  as  drillmaster  of  politicians,  platform 
speakers,  newspaper  editors,  world  armies  and  world 
thought. 

While  private  business  and  civil  government  are 
testing,  sifting,  discovering  and  discarding  drillmas- 
ters,  our  stumbling  and  our  wasting  prove  that  we  have 
been  leaving  too  much  for  business  and  government 
to  discover.  We  have  waited  too  long  with  the  in- 
dividual before  finding  out  about  him  and  helping  him 
find  out  respecting  himself  where  he  possesses  and 
where  he  lacks  capacity  as  drillmaster. 

In  order  to  release  the  energies  of  business  and 
government  for  the  development  of  abilities  already 
shown  and  to  reduce  their  problem  of  discovering 
leadership  ability,  it  is  necessary  for  our  schools  to 
do  vastly  more  than  they  have  thus  far  consciously 
sought  to  do  for  the  discovery  of  drilling  and  teach- 
ing ability. 


TRAINING    FOR    DRILLLMASTERS    AND   TEACHERS       II9 

Every  school  should  be  a  teacher  training  school  no 
matter  what  the  content  and  special  object  of  its  in- 
struction. It  is  the  teaching  of  the  dentist,  the  teach- 
ing of  the  lawyer,  the  teaching  of  the  physician  and 
nurse  rather  than  their  "  practising  "  which  spells  the 
halo  of  those  professions.  So  certain  is  it  that  the 
technically  trained  man  may  prove  a  stumbling  block  to 
society  unless  he  uses  his  technical  Knowledge  and 
training  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  others,  that  the 
government  w^ould  be  wise  if  it  refused  permission 
to  practise  any  profession  until  after  the  applicant 
has  demonstrated  his  capacity  to  teach. 

Because  every  foreman,  every  executive  officer, 
every  advertising  manager  and  every  corporation  head 
is  a  teacher,  one  of  the  most  direct  ways  in  which 
our  schools  can  prepare  boys  and  girls  for  later  voca- 
tions is  to  ascertain  through  school  training  what 
teaching  ability  every  boy  or  girl  possesses. 

A  visionary  proposal?  Indeed  it  is  not.  Thou- 
sands of  schools  are  now  discovering  and  using  what- 
ever teaching  ability  their  older  and  brighter  pupils 
possess.  Sometimes  the  reason  for  employing  older 
pupils,  "  big  brothers  "  or  "  big  sisters,"  as  teachers 
is  to  save  the  private  school  money  or  to  fill  in  an 
accidental  vacancy  in  a  public  school;  and  sometimes 
strong  teachers  openly  take  the  position  that  the  best 
way  they  can  help  their  pupils  is  to  set  them  to  help- 
ing one  another  or  younger  pupils. 


120  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

In  one  large  school  in  the  very  heart  of  the  most  con- 
gested district  in  the  world,  a  child  is  called  "  re- 
tarded "  not  when  he  has  lost  a  year  or  a  term  but 
during  the  very  class  exercise  where  he  first  discloses 
a  difficulty  or  kink  or  obstacle  in  his  arithmetic  or 
writing.  He  is  at  once  assigned  to  a  "  big  brother  " 
who  gives  him  lessons  before  school  or  after  school 
or  during  class  until  the  initial  kink  has  been  unravelled 
so  that  he  can  automatically  multiply  7  X  9,  or  auto- 
matically tell  that  16%  per  cent,  means  %, —  or 
automatically  and  aesthetically  loop  his  o's  in  writing 
and  can  thenceforth  keep  along  with  his  class. 

In  many  schools  it  is  found  best  to  have  the  teacher 
do  the  big  brothering  or  the  big  sistering  for  the  in- 
dividual pupil  who  is  behind  and  to  have  capable  older 
pupils  give  the  class  its  routine  work  in  algebra  or 
history.  Another  quickly  spreading  and  potentially 
valuable  device,  which  is  no  less  effective  in  its  train- 
ing of  teachers  and  drillmasters  because  it  is  primarily 
designed  to  facilitate  discipline  and  "  motivation,"  is 
to  organize  individual  classes  on  the  self-governing 
plan. 

There  is  reason  to  fear  that  it  was  a  mistake  which 
led  to  the  unqualified  abandonment  of  the  "  Lan- 
castrian "  or  "  monitorial  "  system  which  during  the 
early  part  of  the  19th  century  swept  two  continents 
like  wildfire  as  the  so-called  Gary  idea  has  been  sweep- 
ing our  continent  of  late. 


TRAINING    FOR    DRILLLMASTERS    AND    TEACHERS        121 

An  unparalleled  device  for  discovering  and  train- 
ing drillmasters,  teachers  and  governors  is  at  hand 
in  our  school  systems  which  is  capable  of  doing  in- 
finitely more  than  the  boy  scouts  and  campfire  girls 
at  their  best.  I  refer  to  the  "  school  city  "  or  other 
forms  of  pupil  self-government.  I  say  it  is  un- 
paralleled because  whatever  is  well  done  for  school  dis- 
cipline, for  school  recreation  and  for  school  initiative 
can  be  universalized  through  agencies  already  estab- 
lished and  financed. 

Self-government  student  bodies  are  already  being 
officially  harnessed  by  school  and  college  to  present 
plans  for  developing  teachers  and  drillmasters.  To 
them  should  be  added  the  extra  official  clubs  like  the 
literary,  recreational,  scientific  and  dramatic  clubs 
mentioned  in  the  chapter  on  training  for  civic  work. 

Any  effort  to  discover  ability  also  necessarily  dis- 
covers disability  or  not-yet-ability.  Wherever  a 
school  sets  out  to  search  for  ability  to  teach  or  to  drill 
it  will  inevitably  make  it  part  of  its  business  to  find  out 
what  idiosyncrasies  or  deficiencies  of  personality  or 
knowledge  or  experience  stand  in  the  way  of  a  pupil's 
ability  as  drillmaster  or  teacher.  Many  a  national 
asset  never  succeeds  because  he  was  never  told  that 
his  voice  needlessly  arouses  antagonism.  Many  a 
born  leader  never  leads  simply  because  he  mistakes 
driving  or  vociferous  imitating  for  leading.  Many 
a  born  teacher  resists  his  impulse  to  teach  because  his 


122  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

friends,  perhaps  his  ablest  teachers,  disparage  teach- 
ing. 

So  important  is  teaching  that,  as  a  matter  of 
democratic  efficiency,  it  ought  not  to  be  necessary  to 
give  any  other  reason  for  discovering  teaching  ability 
except  that  it  is  the  nation's  greatest  asset. 

Unfortunately  we  are  temporarily  in  an  artificial 
state  of  mind  where  teaching  as  a  profession  is  below 
par  in  public  esteem.  It  is  below  par  for  three  reasons, 
all  of  which  clearly  emphasize  the  reason  why  it  ought 
to  be  above  par. 

One  reason  why  teaching  as  a  profession  is  tem- 
porarily unpopular  is  that  for  nearly  a  generation  so- 
cial settlements,  relief  societies  and  other  civic  agen- 
cies have  been  conducting  a  nation-wide  campaign  to 
attract  ablest  men  and  women  away  from  teaching 
into  other  fields  of  social  service.  Year  after  year 
vocational  conferences  are  held  in  the  colleges  to  show 
the  attractiveness  of  work  in  trade  organizations,  in 
journalism,  in  business,  in  chambers  of  commerce,  in 
social  settlements.  Men  and  women  full  of  their 
subject  and  brimfull  of  the  propagandist's  zeal  employ 
all  arts  of  dramatic  presentation  —  eloquence,  tears, 
tragedy,  humour,  lightning  change,  etc. —  to  make 
"  anything  but  teaching  "  a  brilliant  contrast  to  alleged 
hum-drum,  unimaginative,  rut-inviting  work  in  class- 
rooms. Quite  properly  the  fact  is  emphasized  that 
successful  work  in  all  of  these  other  vocations  is  also 


TRAINING    FOR    DRILLLMASTERS    AND   TEACHERS       I23 

teaching  except  that  it  is  apt  to  be  teaching  of  whole 
communities  or  of  large  groups  within  a  community 
rather  than  of  small  groups  in  classrooms. 

A  second  reason  why  teaching  as  a  profession  has 
been  losing  in  attractiveness  is  that  great  corporations 
have  their  scouts  literally  scouring  men's  colleges  and 
universities  to  discover  students  who  have  exhibited 
in  college  that  brain  power  with  physical  vitality  which 
promises  the  kind  of  drilling  and  teaching  ability 
which  big  business  needs.  Here  too,  the  student  who 
feels  that  he  wants  to  teach  is  told  that  the  successful 
salesman  is  a  teacher;  that  the  successful  foreman 
must  be  a  teacher;  that  the  president  of  a  great  cor- 
poration must  be  par  excellence  a  great  teacher. 

A  third  movement  which  has  directly  and  indirectly 
disparaged  the  teaching  profession  has  paralleled  the 
other  two  movements  and  started  from  among  teachers 
themselves.  Partly  because  the  relative  position  of 
teachers  has  changed  in  proportion  as  other  vocations 
have  developed;  partly  because  salaries  have  not  kept 
pace  either  with  outside  salaries  or  even  with  the 
rising  cost  of  living;  and  partly  because  inefficient 
teachers  have  been  allowed  to  clog  school  systems  our 
teachers  have  quite  generally  been  warning  their 
younger  brothers  and  sisters  to  go  into  some  other 
profession.  Because  we  find  among  teachers  many 
personalities  that  are  dwarfed,  many  bodies  that  are 
over-worked,  many  traditions  that  ought  to  be  obsolete, 


124  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

teachers  themselves  have  been  telling  us  that  there 
is  something  about  teaching  which  inevitably  dwarfs 
personalities  and  causes  over-work. 

Each  of  these  three  reasons  for  disparaging  the 
profession  of  teaching  is  a  reason  why  government, 
business  and  education  alike  must  wake  up  to  the 
fact  that  only  by  inducing,  and  if  need  be  by  compelling 
our  best  ability  to  teach  our  schools  can  our  nation 
hope  to  develop  numerous  enough  or  efficient  enough 
drillmasters  and  leaders  for  its  business  and  govern- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SPECIAL  TRAINING   FOR   LEADERSHIP   IN   CIVIC   WORK 

Until  quite  recently  a  volunteer  society  meant  a 
society  made  up  of  individuals  all  of  whom  give  their 
services  gratuitously  to  the  society.  The  presence  of 
specialists  or  professionals  in  civic  work  is  quite  a 
new  development. 

In  many  sections  of  the  country,  in  almost  all  rural 
districts,  in  a  majority  of  small  towns,  and  in  many 
small  cities  the  professional  civic  or  social  worker  is 
still  unknown.  If  in  these  localities  anybody  appears 
at  the  public  meeting  or  in  the  public  press  as  secretary 
of  a  civic  body  it  may  safely  be  taken  for  granted 
that  he  is  one  of  a  group  of  citizens  who  have  ex- 
pressed interest  in  that  society's  work  and  are  giving 
such  time  as  they  give  to  it  without  pay. 

The  special  training  referred  to  in  this  chapter  is 
training  needed  by  the  leader  who  is  giving  full  time 
or  responsible  time  to  civic  work.  Whether  such  a 
person  is  paid  or  not  paid,  the  need  for  training  is 
imperative. 

With  few  exceptions  volunteer  service  is  also  part 
time  service;  once  in  a  while  some  person  works  full 

125 


126  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

time  and  over  time  without  pay,  perhaps  as  secretary 
of  a  city  club  or  leader  of  a  suffrage  society. 

In  baseball  parlance,  the  difference  between  an  ama- 
teur and  a  professional  is  the  item  of  pay.  The  rea- 
son for  this,  however,  is  that  nobody,  except  an  oc- 
casional small  town  enthusiast,  gives  full  time  to  play- 
ing baseball  unless  he  is  paid.  But  in  civic  work  a 
person  who  has  given  a  lifetime  to  this  subject  and 
who  makes  it  his  life  work,  is  no  less  professional 
while  at  that  work  than  if  he  received  money  for  his 
services. 

Leadership  may  exist  without  professionalism. 
Every  time  a  new  society  is  born,  or  a  new  movement 
started,  somebody  takes  the  lead.  The  persons  who 
quickly  organized  committees  for  selling  Liberty 
Bonds  so  that  in  city  after  city  the  amounts  sought 
were  oversubscribed  in  a  week,  were  leaders  who,  to 
judge  from  results,  had  previously  acquired  the  par- 
ticular training  most  needed  for  this  kind  of  work. 

Yet  in  few  instances  probably  were  these  bonds  sold 
by  professional  sellers  of  bonds,  or  were  Red  Cross 
contributions  obtained  by  professional  money  raisers. 
On  the  contrary,  like  the  overwhelming  majority  of 
civic  agencies  that  spring  up  to  meet  some  commun- 
ity need,  the  leaders  were  simply  members  chosen  from 
a  general  membership  to  render  this  special  service. 

The  evolution  from  unpaid  leadership  to  paid  lead- 
ership it  is  not  necessary  to  trace,  except  to  point  out 


TRAINING    FOR   LEADERSHIP    IN    CIVIC    WORK       12"J 

how  naturally  the  one  merges  into  the  other  as  con- 
tinuity of  service  is  required. 

Wherever  funds  limit  the  activity  of  a  society,  it 
remains  safe  to  rely  on  unpaid,  part  time  service. 
The  whole  world  is  organized  on  this  theory.  There- 
fore, if  individuals  equip  themselves  to  be  efficient 
privates  and  followers  in  voluntary  work  we  may 
safely  count  upon  having  suitable  untrained  officers. 
Under  such  conditions  the  officer  is  not  a  leader,  not  a 
general  and  not  a  director ;  he  is  rather  a  delegate,  an 
executor.  It  is  his  business  to  do  what  his  fellow 
members  ask  him  to  do ;  it  is  distinctly  not  his  business 
to  tell  a  society  what  it  ought  to  do.  The  whole 
theory  of  democratic  organization  is  that  initiative 
shall  remain  with  the  general  membership  and  that 
execution  shall  devolve  upon  officers.  Incidentally  it  is 
because  representatives  have  sailed  too  far  from  shore 
that  the  initiative,  referendum  and  recall  have  been 
incorporated  in  so  many  state  constitutions  and  civic 
charters. 

As  communities  grow,  or  as  the  work  of  a  civic 
agency  grows  in  the  number,  variety  or  urgency  of  its 
demands,  it  is  found  that  good  intention  is  not  synony- 
mous with  ability  to  do.  It  is  no  longer  safe  to  rely 
upon  superannuated  ministers,  or  retired  business 
men  bored  with  their  lack  of  accountability,  or  the 
chairman's  wife's  niece,  or  some  recently  widowed 
mother  who  needs  to  eke  out  a  living.     The  general 


128  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

membership  has  such  a  definite  picture  of  what  it 
wants  to  accomplish  that  it  does  not  feel  safe  with 
nonprofessional  services.  It  wants  to  do  many  things 
well  and  not  some  one  single  thing  passably  well.  A 
blunder  becomes  more  serious ;  the  facts  about  a  blun- 
der are  known  to  more  people  and  regardless  of  the 
bungler's  intent  may  hamper  other  private  and  public 
agencies.  Members  will  not  remain  in  a  society  re- 
garding which  it  becomes  known  that  its  officers  are 
behind  the  times  or  are  for  other  reasons  failing  in 
their  definite  work.  Furthermore,  people  are  learn- 
ing through  newspapers,  magazines  and  public  presses 
and  from  visits  to  other  cities  what  different  kinds  of 
service  different  wages  will  buy.  They  have  stand- 
ards of  comparison  which  they  never  had  before. 
Therefore,  when  deciding  whom  to  install  as  paid 
representative  they  are  automatically  asking,  "  Which 
person  is  best  equipped?  Who  knows  most  about 
what  we  are  trying  to  do?  Who  has  the  personal 
qualifications  needed  to  keep  the  organization  together 
and  make  it  grow?  Who  has  already  most  clearly 
proved  his  capacity  ?  " 

Thus  it  has  become  necessary  to  remind  persons 
who  aspire  to  positions  for  which  they  seem  not  to  be 
best  qualified  that  their  desire  to  serve  need  not  mean 
ability  to  serve.  This  situation  was  illustrated  years 
ago  in  a  Youth's  Companion  anecdote.  A  youth  with- 
out education  asked  his  church  conference  to  accept 


TRAINING   FOR   LEADERSHIP   IN    CIVIC    WORK       1 29 

him  as  preacher.  When  reminded  that  he  was  with- 
out education  or  experience  or  evidence  of  fitness,  he 
insisted  that  the  heavens  had  repeatedly  revealed  to 
him  the  sign  G.  P.  C.  which  he  read  to  mean  Go  Preach 
Christ.  It  was  impossible  for  him  to  believe  that  he 
might  have  misread  this  code  until  one  of  the  elders 
asked  him  if  he  was  sure  that  G.  P.  C.  did  not  mean 
Go  Plough  Corn. 

To  be  sure  that  our  G.  P.  C's  are  correctly  read  and 
to  save  the  time  of  boards  of  trustees  wishing  to  se- 
cure able  executives  we  have  extensively  developed 
competition  for  the  specially  trained.  In  women's 
clubs  alone  there  are  salaried  posts  such  as  financial 
secretary,  field  lecturer,  professional  writer,  executive 
secretary.  Labour  unions  have  similar  officers. 
Chambers  of  commerce  are  now  recognizing  that  they 
need  as  managers  not  special  pleaders  for  trades  or 
business  groups,  not  boosters  for  towns,  but  inter- 
preters who  can  explain  communities  to  trade  and  trade 
to  communities.  Educational  associations  and  civic 
research  groups  want  investigators,  writers,  executive 
officers,  community  leaders. 

The  movement  which  is  demanding  trained  investi- 
gators for  relief  societies,  trained  nurses  for  hospitals 
and  private  homes,  trained  secretaries  of  commercial 
clubs,  trained  revivalists  for  churches,  has  also  infected 
our  colleges  and  universities.  It  is  no  longer  taken 
for  granted,  as  several  colleges  have  learned  to  their 


I3O  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

sorrow,  that  a  trained  minister  of  the  Gospel  who  can 
stampede  a  board  of  trustees  or  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  conven- 
tion can  with  equal  success  conduct  an  American  col- 
lege. While  the  reform  is  not  yet  complete  there  is  a 
very  strong  presumption  that  the  man  who  is  elected 
to  the  presidency  of  an  important  college  or  university 
must  have  had  some  previous  experience  that  particu- 
larly fits  him  for  this  kind  of  work.  Similarly,  when 
rich  men  finance  a  private  school  they  are  beginning 
to  ask  about  the  personal  and  professional  qualifica- 
tions of  the  person  to  head  that  school. 

Such  training  for  leadership  has  now  been  carried 
so  far  in  larger  cities  that  long  before  smaller  com- 
munities have  been  educated  to  their  need  for  trained 
leaders,  a  revulsion  against  the  trained  leader  will  have 
acquired  considerable  headway  in  the  larger  cities. 
Gradually,  the  ordinary  citizen  is  finding  himself  dis- 
placed by  the  professional.  One  of  the  great  prob- 
lems in  social  work  and  in  public  service  is  how  to 
gain  the  advantage  of  trained  leadership  and  trained 
management  without  incurring  the  disadvantage  of  a 
helpless,  unthinking  followership. 

If  in  order  to  secure  efficiency  it  is  necessary  to 
keep  citizens  from  active  participation  in  civic  work, 
people  are  beginning  to  see  that  efficiency  comes  at  too 
high  a  price  or  rather  that  efficiency  of  participation 
is  more  important  than  efficiency  of  immediate  re- 
sults; that  it  is  better  to  make  blunders  in  presenting 


TRAINING   FOR   LEADERSHIP    IN    CIVIC    WORK       13I 

facts,  urging  changes,  and  opposing  reforms  than  to 
paralyse  a  civic  body  by  benumbing  its  members;  that 
it  is  better  to  have  an  uncertain  aim  than  a  palsied 
arm;  that  it  is  better  not  to  have  a  health  committee 
of  a  women's  club  than  to  have  all  the  work  of  this 
committee  done  by  a  paid  employe;  that  it  is  better 
for  volunteers  to  use  their  mites  of  patriotism  in  de- 
manding activity  by  their  government  than  to  abdicate 
all  initiative  in  favour  of  a  paid  representative;  that 
no  one  can  represent  a  volunteer  organization  when 
that  organization  is  lifeless. 

Thus  it  is  that  in  civic  work  rotation  in  office  is  good 
for  the  community.  No  work  is  more  important  than 
the  training  of  leaders.  The  more  who  have  had  ex- 
perience in  leading  the  better  it  will  be  for  any  town. 
There  need  be  no  fear  that  superior  ability  will  lie  fal- 
low and  be  wasted.  Those  who  have  proved  to  them- 
selves and  others  that  they  have  capacity  for  leadership 
seldom  backslide.  The  very  task  of  proving  leader- 
ship heightens  and  broadens  the  vision.  Similar  op- 
portunities to  be  of  service  are  seen  and  the  desire  to 
be  of  help  is  intensified.  It  is  wasteful  to  keep  the 
same  person  as  president  of  a  chamber  of  commerce 
or  a  women's  club.  As  between  the  practice  of  no  re- 
election at  all  and  re-election  for  say  even  three  years, 
it  would  be  better  to  insist  upon  no  re-election.  It  is 
poor  gratitude  for  excellent  service  which  lets  one 
leader  prevent  the  development  of  other  leaders. 


132  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

"  Great  are  the  symbols  of  being,  but  that  which  is  sym- 
bolic is  greater; 
Vast  the  create  and  beheld,  but  vaster  the  inward  cre- 
ator." 

The  opportunities  for  special  training  for  leadership 
in  civic  work  fall  into  five  different  groups :  appren- 
ticeship in  actual  work ;  the  one  or  two  weeks'  institute ; 
the  six  weeks'  summer  course ;  the  all  year  or  two  year 
course,  or  equivalents  spread  out  through  a  college 
course;  and  field  training  through  work  that  needs  to 
be  done. 

Now  is  no  time  to  ask  which  of  these  five  methods 
of  training  is  best.  There  is  a  time  when  each  is  best 
for  a  particular  worker  or  for  a  particular  community. 
It  will  not  do  to  depreciate  the  importance  of  appren- 
tice training;  it  is  not  true  that  a  person  who  has 
heard  lectures  about  chamber  of  commerce  work  has 
better  training  than  that  same  person  would  have  after 
doing  the  things  that  are  lectured  about;  it  is  not  true 
that  for  the  unprepared  person  a  two  year  course  is 
better  than  a  one  year  course  or  that  a  whole  year  is 
better  than  an  inspirational  institute  or  summer  course. 
Stevenson  might  have  said  of  training  for  leadership 
as  he  said  of  life :  "  To  travel  hopefully  on  is  better 
than  to  arrive."  This  year's  apprentice  goes  to  a 
summer  course;  next  year's  summer  course  will  not 
suffice  for  him.  Perhaps  he  should  go  to  an  institute 
for  trained  workers.     Three  years  from  now  one  solid 


TRAINING    FOR    LEADERSHIP    IN    CIVIC    WORK       1 33 

year  may  be  needed.  Through  all  of  the  alternatives 
should  run  the  laboratory  method,  that  is,  the  method 
of  training  through  work  that  needs  to  be  done  on 
time  and  done  right. 

Schools  for  would-be  professional  civic  workers  in 
Boston,  Chicago,  Philadelphia  and  New  York  have 
formal  curricula  that  vie  in  variety  and  complexity 
with  the  offerings  of  colleges.  Other  cities  are  fol- 
lowing with  short  courses  for  workers  already  in 
harness,  and  with  preliminary  courses  for  volunteers. 
One  of  the  first  steps  taken  by  the  Red  Cross  after 
war  was  declared  in  19 17  was  to  start  all  over  the 
country  courses  for  volunteers  in  first  aid  to  the  in- 
jured, and  in  giving  family  relief.  Colleges  are  fol- 
lowing with  special  courses  in  war  service. 

More  courses  are  needed  in  colleges,  normal  schools 
and  high  schools  to  prepare  civic  leaders.  There  is 
room  in  courses  of  study  for  this  instruction  because 
there  is  no  better  way  to  teach  political  science  and 
applied  psychology  than  through  organized  student 
activities,  which  colleges  are  finding  to  serve  much 
the  same  purpose  as  an  all-year  Plattsburg. 

So  few  are  the  persons  who  have  been  specially 
trained  that  many  a  man  or  woman  who  starts  to 
school  with  the  thought  of  being  an  expert  follower 
or  expert  obeyer  of  other  persons'  directions  finds  him- 
self or  herself  asked  to  assume  the  duties  of  leadership 
for  a  city  wishing  a  city  manager  campaign,   for  a 


134  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

chamber  of  commerce  wishing  to  study  public  schools, 
or  for  women's  clubs  wishing  to  supplement  volunteers 
with  professional  service.  For  some  time  opportuni- 
ties for  leaders  will  be  so  numerous  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  candidates  that  ability  will  be  recognized 
more  quickly  than  students  have  any  right  to  expect. 

What  people  study  who  take  special  courses  for 
leadership  in  civic  work  is  not  the  important  fact  for 
us.  The  single  point  we  want  to  make  here  is  that 
the  person  who  occupies  a  responsible  relation  to  any 
civic  work  shall  ask  himself  whether  he  is  prepared; 
that  he  shall  then  take  steps  to  see  that  he  supple- 
ments his  previous  experience  by  training  and  instruc- 
tion, and  if  necessary  take  time  to  go  to  other  cities 
or  some  central  school  for  both  specialized  field  work 
and  other  specialized  instruction. 

The  test  of  training  is  whether  or  not  a  civic  leader 
is  competent  to  see  the  opportunities  in  his  or  her 
town,  to  enlist  others  in  using  these  opportunities,  and 
to  do  the  routine  work  promptly  and  competently. 
.What  one  knows  is  of  itself  no  test  of  one's  ability  to 
do. 

The  demand  for  civic  leaders  is  growing  too  rapidly 
to  be  supplied  without  the  aid  of  special  training 
schools  or  centres.  The  facts  about  other  towns'  suc- 
cesses make  a  dozen  towns  a  month  want  new  civic 
leaders.  Sometimes  this  demand  is  not  for  a  new 
leader  but  for  new  work  by  old  leaders.     In  either 


TRAINING    FOR   LEADERSHIP   IN    CIVIC    WORK       1 35 

case  the  organizations  cannot  afford  to  do  their  own 
training.  They  want  some  one  who  can  start  on  a 
run  instead  of  working  up  gradually  to  a  run. 

Training  for  leadership  must  therefore  be  organ- 
ized for  two  different  groups — those  who  have  not  yet 
experience  in  the  field,  and  those  who  have  some  ex- 
perience but  want  to  learn  short  cuts  toward  new 
abilities. 

For  both  groups,  whatever  the  type  of  school,  the 
best  possible  training  is  such  as  has  already  been 
organized  in  several  different  cities,  namely,  training 
for  civic  work  via  doing  civic  work,  training  for  public 
service  via  rendering  it.  Instead  of  listening  to  talk 
about  work  the  future  civic  leader  will  benefit  most 
from  doing  work  under  supervision  so  that  he  will 
see  where  he  has  strong  points  to  build  upon  and 
weak  points  to  be  corrected. 

Instruction  preliminary  to  such  field  training  is 
already  being  given  by  many  high  schools  and  col- 
leges. How  communities  are  organized,  what  kinds 
of  civic  work  are  being  done,  what  ends  are  to  be 
sought,  and  what  mistakes  to  be  avoided  are  explained 
by  the  lecture  and  textbook  method  in  many  high 
schools  and  colleges. 

But  after  the  would-be  civic  leader  knows  in  a  gen- 
eral way  what  ought  to  be  done,  it  is  necessary  for 
him  to  prove  ability  to  meet  special  situations,  to  get 
the  information  promptly,  to  get  all  the  information 


I36  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

needed,  to  marshal  that  information  in  brief  and  ac- 
ceptable form,  to  place  it  before  those  who  need  to  be 
convinced  and  interested.  Earlier  this  kind  of  train- 
ing has  been  mentioned  as  part  of  regular  civics  work 
in  elementary  and  high  school. 

Those  wishing  detailed  information  with  respect  to 
field  training  for  civic  leadership  will  do  well  to  write 
to  one  or  all  of  four  sources:  the  Chicago  School  of 
Civics  and  Philanthropy  which  trained,  for  example, 
the  secretary  of  the  Cincinnati  Women's  City  Club; 
the  Society  for  Promotion  of  Training  for  Public 
Service,  which  in  19 17  secured  legislative  authorization 
for  a  special  course  in  field  training  for  public  service 
at  the  University  of  Wisconsin;  the  University  of 
Michigan  which  trained  the  city  manager  for  Beau- 
fort, South  Carolina;  and  the  Institute  for  Public 
Service  which  represents  a  group  of  training  centres 
in  Akron,  Dayton,  Detroit,  Evanston,  Evansville,  Jack- 
son, Los  Angeles,  Milwaukee,  Minneapolis,  Phila- 
delphia, St.  Augustine,  Toronto  and  New  York  City. 

Two  concrete  examples  of  training  for  civic  work 
via  doing  civic  work  will  show  that  it  is  feasible  to 
arrange  for  such  training  in  every  state  and  in  every 
city  where  there  is  civic  work  needing  to  be  done. 

A  Yale  graduate  came  to  New  York  in  191 7  for 
field  training  with  the  Institute  for  Public  Service. 
We  were  in  the  midst  of  preparations  for  public  hear- 
ings on  the  West  Side  Improvement  Plan  to  end  Death 


TRAINING   FOR   LEADERSHIP   IN    CIVIC    WORK       1 37 

Avenue  and  the  nuisances  and  dangers  above  referred 
to.  This  Yale  man  was  not  given  books  to  read  about 
government  nor  was  he  given  lectures.  It  would  have 
helped  him  little  to  pour  information  into  his  head 
before  there  were  any  questions  there.  Nor  could 
we  have  found  out  much  of  importance  about  him  by 
talking  to  him.  Therefore  he  was  asked  to  help  secure 
information  which  New  York  needed. 

First  he  was  sent  to  two  libraries  to  see  what  facts 
were  being  collected  there  with  regard  to  this  impor- 
tant city  project.  His  report  showed  that  the  current 
history  of  the  debate  was  not  being  kept.  When  the 
mayor  was  told  this  he  asked  the  municipal  reference 
library  to  estimate  what  it  would  cost  to  start  a  clip- 
ping service  which  would  keep  and  properly  file  what- 
ever newspapers  and  magazines  have  to  say  about  any 
subject  vital  to  New  York  City. 

A  second  assignment  had  to  do  with  ticket  specu- 
lators who  were  raising  prices  on  opera  seats  from 
$1.50  to  $4  and  from  $6  to  $12  or  $20,  etc.  This 
student's  facts  when  reported  led  to  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  by  the  Metropolitan  Opera  Company 
and  to  a  thorough  investigation  by  the  city's  com- 
missioner of  accounts  with  a  view  to  law  enforcement 
and  remedial  legislation. 

These  two  assignments  were  incidental.  His  main 
assignment  was  to  help  get  information  for  the  public 
regarding   the   West   Side   Improvement   Plan.     The 


I38  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

objections  were  reported  and  digested  by  him.  From 
these  notes  a  summary  of  the  opposition  was  given 
out  to  newspapers  and  appeared  in  full  in  two  news- 
papers each  read  by  several  hundred  thousand  persons. 
Numerous  special  investigations  and  digests  were  made 
to  help  us  prepare  our  own  statements  of  fact  which 
the  student  gave  out  to  newspapers  and  city  officers. 

As  part  of  these  statements  two  maps  were  drawn 
by  the  student,  one  as  on  page  139,  showing  what 
no  one  else  had  prepared,  namely  the  new  trackage 
and  yardage  that  it  was  proposed  to  give  to  the  New 
York  Central,  and  the  other  showing  a  plan  for 
zoning  freight  distribution  and  for  private  terminals 
on  city-owned  piers  as  a  substitute  for  the  proposal 
to  give  to  one  railroad  a  monopoly  of  terminal  facili- 
ties without  even  imposing  upon  it  the  duty  to  develop 
those  facilities. 

This  student  was  sent  for  further  training  to  Jack- 
son, Michigan,  in  answer  to  a  telegram  from  the  city 
manager,  who  wanted  some  one  to  collect  facts  and 
prepare  a  graphic  exhibit  for  the  citizens  of  Jackson 
to  show  how  the  city  manager  plan  compared  in  cost 
and  service  rendered  with  the  plan  it  superseded. 

Does  the  reader  feel  that  such  training  prepares  a 
student  for  civic  leadership? 

A  western  woman  who  had  secured  a  Master  of 
Arts  degree  from  Columbia  University  wished  sum- 
mer training  for  civic  work.     She  visited  houses  quar- 


roar 

WASHINGTON 
fARK 


MANRAT7ANV1UJ 
YARD 


New  and  Additional 
Trackage  and  Mileage  Pro- 
posed for  New  York  Cen- 
tral Railroad 


To  illustrate  the  testing  and 
educating  value  of  field  training 
for  public  service  via  doing  work 
that  needs  to  be  done. 


Drawn  by  Yale  student  with  Institute  for  Public  Service  as 

per  p.  136  ff. 
139 


I4O  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

antined  for  infantile  paralysis  to  see  whether  quaran- 
tine signs  were  up  and  quarantine  observed,  and  re- 
ported results  to  the  commissioner  of  health ;  inspected 
food  and  fruit  stands  to  see  if  the  sanitary  code  was 
violated;  inspected  streets,  yards  and  city  properties 
for  presence  of  waste  paper  and  other  litter;  sum- 
marized, or,  as  we  say,  "  high  spotted  "  educational 
reports  for  widely  helpful  facts  and  suggestions. 

Do  you  see  how  in  this  kind  of  training  for  civic 
leadership  communities  obtain  benefits  while  students 
get  training,  and  do  you  see  how  hard  it  is  for  strong 
or  weak  points  of  personality  and  of  previous  prepara- 
tion to  escape  notice  when  a  person  is  training  via 
doing  work  that  needs  to  be  done  right  and  on  time? 

Other  illustrations  of  community  service  rendered 
while  men  and  women  were  in  training  for  civic  work 
follow : 

i.  Wisconsin's  rural  school  survey  which  led  to  the 
passage  of  over  twenty  measures  for  improving 
rural  schools  including  minimum  salaries  for  teach- 
ers and  county  superintendent. 

2.  The  Wisconsin  study  of  eight  normal  schools  was 
begun  by  men  in  training  and  finished  by  one  of 
them  in  co-operation  with  normal  school  presidents 
and  the  state  superintendent  of  instruction,  which 
survey  led  to  a  new  era  of  self-study  and  self-im- 
provement by  Wisconsin's  normal  schools. 

3.  Ohio's  statewide  school  survey  that  was  called  a 
"  veritable  educational  renaissance  "  and  which  the 


TRAINING   FOR   LEADERSHIP   IN   CIVIC   WORK       I4I 

United  States  bureau  of  education  said  led  to  more 
constructive  legislation  than  any  state  had  ever 
before  passed  at  one  session. 

4.  The  ocean  beaches  at  Coney  Island,  Rockaway  Park, 
etc.,  were  recovered  for  the  people  because  of  in- 
vestigations and  legal  argument  prepared  first  by  a 
man  in  training. 

5.  Pine  Bluff,  Arkansas,  through  a  local  committee, 
had  a  survey  of  its  city  government  by  a  man  in 
training. 

6.  The  most  comprehensive  reports  ever  published  of 
outside  co-operation  with  public  schools  and  the  only 
digest  of  New  York's  school  inquiry  were  prepared 
by  a  recent  woman  graduate  who  sought  training 
for  civic  leadership. 

7.  Portland's  (Oregon)  municipal  reference  library 
and    the    know-your-city    exhibits    of    Springfield, 

Mass.,  Waterbury,  Conn.,  Jersey  City  and  Cincin- 
nati; the  health  surveys  of  Newark,  the  Oranges, 
Syracuse,  St.  Paul  and  Dayton;  attendance  depart- 
ment surveys  of  New  Rochelle  and  Milwaukee,  are 
other  illustrations  of  rendering  service  while  learn- 
ing to  lead  in  rendering  civic  service. 

Nor  is  it  necessary  to  send  persons  away  to  one 
of  these  centres  for  training  for  civic  leadership. 
Some  little  can  be  done  by  way  of  correspondence 
courses  which  will  help  workers  already  in  the  harness 
analyse  their  own  needs  and  successes;  and  by  having 
reports  criticized  frankly  with  questions  pointing  to 
new  activities  and  increased  efficiency. 


142  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

The  possibility  of  training  for  social  work  through 
correspondence  has  not  yet  been  realized,  either  by 
the  trainers  or  by  persons  who  desire  training.  Sev- 
eral years  ago  I  suggested  to  the  University  of  Chicago 
that  a  course  in  sociology  was  needed  which  would 
start  with  the  environment  of  the  student  instead  of 
with  a  definition  of  society.  I  was  asked  to  give  such 
a  correspondence  course.  It  was  announced  that  a 
course  would  be  given  in  practical  sociology,  each  per- 
son to  start  his  work  by  answering  questions  about 
his  own  present  interest.  We  used  one  text  book  as 
a  "  home  base  "  or  as  a  "  tuning  fork  "  to  help  the 
reader  keep  his  key.  People  with  varied  interests  ap- 
plied: a  woman  of  means  who  mainly  desired  to  learn 
how  to  give  money  and  voluntary  service  wisely;  a 
college  graduate  hoping  to  become  interested  in  social 
work ;  a  house  physician  at  a  women's  insane  asylum ; 
a  nurse  in  private  practice.  For  the  nurse  two  sets  of 
questions  were  prepared  which  asked  what  public  serv- 
ice work  nurses  were  doing  in  her  city ;  how  they  were 
fighting  tuberculosis;  how  they  were  saving  babies, 
educating  mothers,  etc.  After  filling  out  the  second 
set  of  questions,  this  nurse  wrote  back  that  the  need 
for  a  visiting  nurses'  association  had  been  made  so 
clear  to  her  that  instead  of  completing  the  correspond- 
ence course  she  proposed  to  give  her  knowledge  to 
organizing  such  an  association. 


TRAINING    FOR   LEADERSHIP   IN   CIVIC   WORK       I43 

Still  more  can  be  done  by  three  other  important 
trainers,  namely,  the  citizen  who  refuses  to  follow  any 
civic  leader's  suggestions  until  reasons  are  clear;  the 
member  of  a  civic  agency  who  can  help  by  demand- 
ing information  before  he  leaps  or  follows;  and  the 
unsalaried  officer  of  civic  agencies. 

As  stated  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  paid 
workers  are  by  no  means  the  only  civic  leaders.  On 
the  contrary,  in  a  large  proportion  of  cases  the  paid 
worker  is  a  follower  of  instructions  given  to  him  by 
a  civic  leader  who  is  president  or  influential  member 
of  his  board  of  trustees.  Long  after  we  have  a  supply 
of  civic  leaders  who  will  act  as  paid  executive  officers 
of  civic  bodies  we  shall  still  suffer  from  lack  of  train- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  voluntary  civic  leader  who  acts 
as  unpaid  secretary  or  unpaid  trustee.  Whatever 
reason  there  is  for  a  paid  officer  to  take  training  for 
civic  work  via  doing  civic  work  under  supervision 
and  frank  analysis  also  applies  to  the  unpaid  trustee. 

Practically,  however,  few  trustees  will  put  them- 
selves in  the  position  where  their  work  will  be  super- 
vised, which  means  where  their  work  is  tested,  an- 
alysed, frankly  criticized  and  either  improved,  discon- 
tinued or  put  in  other  hands. 

Practically  also  it  is  possible  to  give  leaders  training 
if  those  of  us  who  follow  will  train  ourselves  as  privates 
to  see  straight  as  a  means  of  thinking  straight  and 


144  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

acting  straight.  If  we  ask  the  right  specific  questions 
civic  leaders  will  find  it  profitable  and  necessary  to 
give  the  right  specific  answers  —  which  they  can  do 
only  by  consciously  training  themselves  for  more  ef- 
fective leadership. 


CHAPTER  IX 

TRAINING   FOR   ENTRANCE   TO   CIVIL   SERVICE 

"  Civil  service  "  differs  from  "  civic  work  "  in  that 
by  common  consent  civil  service  refers  to  non-military 
service  performed  by  government  employes  for  gov- 
ernment pay. 

No  matter  how  small  the  unit  of  government, 
whether  township  or  nation,  a  person  is  in  the  civil 
service  if  he  is  working  for  the  government.  Town- 
ship clerks,  village  constables,  city  auditors,  supreme 
court  justices,  governors,  congressmen,  our  president 
are  all  civil  servants.  Where  so-called  "  civil  lists  " 
are  printed,  that  is,  lists  of  civil  servants  or  employes, 
no  distinction  is  made  between  persons  who  are  ap- 
pointed without  examination  and  with  no  assurance 
against  removal  for  political  reasons  and  other  per- 
sons who  come  to  their  positions  by  competitive  ex- 
aminations and  are  legally  protected  from  arbitrary 
removal. 

In  common  parlance,  a  mayor  or  governor  or  other 
person  elected  by  popular  vote  is  considered  a  public 
servant,  but  not  a  civil  servant.  Once  in  a  great,  great 
while  an  elected  officer  startles  his  constituency  by  re- 

i45 


I46  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

fusing  the  title  "  servant."  Witness  the  following 
dialogue:  A  taxpayer  and  distinguished  lawyer: 
"  We  address  you,  trustees  and  servants  of  the  public 
.  ..."  Mr.  Comptroller:  "  Trustees,  sir,  but  not 
servants !  "  Another  elected  officer:  "  I  am  willing  to 
be  called  a  servant  of  the  public."  City  Comptroller: 
"  Every  man  to  his  last."  Similarly,  judges,  whether 
elected  or  appointed,  are  considered  public  servants 
but  not  civil  servants.  A  police  commissioner  named 
by  a  mayor,  a  state  food  commissioner  named  by  a 
governor,  or  a  cabinet  named  by  the  president  are 
types  of  public  servant.  The  reason  for  this  is  that 
for  over  a  generation  there  has  been  much  popular 
discussion  of  "  civil  service  reform  "  against  two  ideas 
long  universally  popular  in  America  characterized  by 
President  Grover  Cleveland  as  unworthy  a  great  in- 
telligent people.  These  two  ideas  were :  "  To  the 
victors  belong  the  spoils  "  and  "  Public  office  is  a  pri- 
vate snap." 

Partly  from  idealistic  reasons,  somewhat  because  of 
personal  and  party  disappointments,  largely  because  of 
business  resentment  against  waste  due  to  frequent 
changes  among  government  employes  and  to  no  little 
degree  because  of  organized  protest  from  persons  hold- 
ing office  and  dreading  removal,  the  rank  and  file  of 
citizens  came  to  believe  that  persons  who  were  satis- 
factorily serving  the  public  in  minor  positions  ought 
not  to  be  dropped  every  two  years  or  four  years  when 


TRAINING    FOR   ENTRANCE   TO    CIVIL   SERVICE       I47 

new  officers  were  elected.  Naturally,  reforms  come 
slowly  which  take  away  from  large  numbers  of  people 
the  principal  motive  for  their  political  activity,  namely, 
desire  for  jobs  for  themselves  or  their  protegees. 
Civil  service  reform,  however,  made  unexpectedly 
rapid  strides  at  least  in  fascinating  the  popular  mind 
and  in  drawing  a  line  between  civil  servants  whose 
work  is  presumably  non-political  and  other  public 
servants  whose  work  is  still  held  to  be  largely  political. 

To  readers  whose  contact  with  civil  service  is  lim- 
ited to  village  clerks,  poll  tax  collectors,  pound  keepers 
and  other  part  time  public  employes  the  idea  of  training 
for  entrance  to  civil  service  will  cause  a  smile.  That 
smile,  however,  may  be  one  of  pleasure  rather  than 
one  of  disdain  if  citizens  who  have  not  yet  wanted  to 
enter  civil  service  will  only  change  their  attitude  to- 
ward civil  service  by  raising  their  standard  of  what 
the  public  is  entitled  to  from  its  public  servants. 

That  everybody's  business  must  be  attended  to  by 
somebody  and  not  by  everybody  is  clear.  It  is  true 
that  we  are  all  working  for  one  another  all  the  time 
when  we  do  our  private  work  well,  but  our  private 
work  is  so  exacting  that  we  cannot  at  the  same  time 
attend  to  work  for  everybody  such  as  keeping  streets 
clean,  inspecting  milk,  furnishing  pure  water  or  teach- 
ing school. 

The  time  is  past  even  in  small  cities,  and  is  rapidly 
passing  in  rural  districts  when  citizens  can  with  satis- 


I48  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

faction  to  one  another  take  turns  doing  public  work. 
Rapidly,  except  in  the  very  smallest  units,  we  are 
finding  that  public  business  is  too  important  to  entrust 
to  part  time  workers.  Full  time  service  for  the  public 
means  the  public  must  pay.  When  the  public  pays, 
it  wants  its  money's  worth:  it  resents  bad  service; 
confesses  a  preference  for  more  ability,  and  with  the 
facts  before  it,  will  always  expect  better  results  from 
persons  who  are  trained. 

After  the  public  shows  a  preference  for  persons  who 
had  some  training,  applicants  for  positions  quickly  per- 
ceive that  they  will  save  time  and  win  favour  if  they 
submit  evidence  of  training  with  their  application. 
Out  of  this  self-interest  of  a  public  wanting  satisfac- 
tory service  and  of  individuals  wanting  jobs  has  started 
a  circle  of  schools  which  make  a  specialty  of  training 
people  for  entrance  to  public  service. 

Heretofore,  our  training  for  civil  service  has  been 
viewed  from  standpoints  which  are  too  narrow; 
namely,  we  have  thought  of  it  as  a  shortcut  for  in- 
dividuals wishing  to  pass  examinations,  and  secondly 
we  have  wanted  to  keep  flagrantly  unprepared  people 
out  of  civil  service.  A  third  and  broader  motive  we 
must  now  add,  and  it  is  that  with  which  this  chapter 
deals,  namely,  the  rank  and  file  of  citizens  must  come 
to  think  of  civil  service  everywhere  as  part  of  our  na- 
tion's universal  system  of  preparedness  for  peace  and 
for  war. 


TRAINING   FOR   ENTRANCE   TO    CIVIL   SERVICE       1 49 

Europe's  warring  nations  have  a  vastly  higher  con- 
ception today  of  their  civil  servants  after  learning  to 
their  sorrow  that  incompetent  civil  service  is  a  drain 
and  stumbling  block  to  competent  military  service. 
We  all  see  now  that  money  and  energy  wasted  on  civil 
service  means  not  only  less  money  and  energy  im- 
mediately available  for  war  service  but  weakened  abil- 
ity to  generate  more  energy  and  find  more  money. 

If  civil  service  is  part  of  the  nation's  resources  for 
preparedness  there  is  a  great  deal  which  every  citizen 
can  do  to  help  secure  training  for  entering  it.  He 
can  first  feel  and  then  preach  that  civil  service,  instead 
of  being  a  necessary  evil,  is  an  indispensable  good; 
that  no  person  should  be  admitted  to  public  service 
for  his  own  good  until  after  it  is  first  proved  that  his 
becoming  a  civil  servant  is  for  the  public's  good ;  that 
the  civil  service  is  a  training  ground  as  worthy  of 
public  attention  and  backing  as  are  the  academies  at 
West  Point  and  Annapolis.  When  a  boy  wins  ap- 
pointment to  West  Point,  his  friends  do  not  talk  about 
his  soft  snap;  instead,  they  congratulate  him  upon  his 
opportunity  and  help  him  plan  for  the  hard  work  ahead 
of  him.  They  do  not  assume  that  he  will  stop  grow- 
ing and  will  become  a  parasite  or  withering  "  f  onction- 
naire  " ;  instead  they  know  that  he  cannot  stop  grow- 
ing at  least  during  his  period  of  training.  We  must 
make  it  possible  to  have  the  same  feeling  about  all 
civil  service. 


I50  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

The  worst  troubles  of  our  present  civil  service  are 
due  not  so  much  to  the  fact  that  the  public  servant 
has  not  lived  up  to  our  expectation  as  that  we  have 
not  expected  enough  of  him.  Hence  the  necessity  for 
our  change  of  attitude.  With  our  change  of  attitude 
will  quickly  come  a  change  in  the  attitude  and  per- 
formance of  the  civil  servant  himself  who  instinctively 
lives  up  to  or  down  to  the  public's  picture  of  him. 

The  effect  of  public  expectation  is  particularly  im- 
portant in  the  overwhelming  majority  of  communities 
where  the  only  test  for  entrants  to  civil  service  is 
that  which  the  appointing  officer  makes  for  his  own 
protection  or  out  of  regard  to  public  demand. 

Whether  we  have  realized  it  or  not  and  whether 
we  like  it  or  not,  we  are  all  being  profoundly  in- 
fluenced by  our  civil  service.  Every  public  employe 
is  five  times  a  teacher  and  trainer:  he  trains  himself; 
he  trains  his  subordinate;  he  trains  his  superior;  he 
trains  his  successor;  and  he  trains  the  public.  The 
city  postman  or  village  postmaster  who  constantly 
studies  the  art  of  politeness  under  difficulties,  is  not 
merely  training  himself  in  polite  service ;  his  under- 
study and  colleagues  are  infected  by  his  courtesy;  his 
superior  officer  meets  courtesy  with  courtesy ;  his  suc- 
cessor finds  the  public  so  accustomed  to  courtesy  that 
discourtesy,  whether  self -checked  or  publicly  resented, 
is  shown  to  be  harder  for  him  than  courtesy.  It  is 
just  as  true  that  the  discourteous  postman,  postmaster 


TRAINING   FOR  ENTRANCE   TO   CIVIL   SERVICE       I5I 

or  postmistress  —  and  there  are  still  a  few  such  — 
becomes  uglier  each  year,  invites  discourtesy  from 
subordinate  and  colleague,  and  generates  a  public  atti- 
tude that  makes  it  easier  for  his  successor  to  be  dis- 
courteous than  courteous. 

The  citizen  has  four  relations  to  civil  service ;  he  con- 
tinually hears  about  it;  he  pays  the  bill;  he  is  under 
constant  pressure  to  think  as  civil  servants  do  about 
further  expenses  and  about  excuses  for  unsatisfactory 
service;  he  is  being  taught  by  them  whether  he  likes 
it  or  not.  We  must  right  about  face  and  make  sure 
that  civil  service  educators  of  the  public  have  an  edu- 
cational attitude  toward  the  public  and  realize  that 
the  service  rendered  by  a  public  employe  should  al- 
ways be  more  important  than  his  own  gain. 

Since  civil  service  employes  work  for  everybody, 
it  behooves  everybody  to  prepare  the  way  for  advan- 
tageously using  civil  service  employes  for  national  and 
other  public  ends.  Our  schools  must  head  pupils  to- 
ward public  service;  teach  them  its  dignity,  its  oppor- 
tunities and  its  limitations;  train  them  in  respect  for 
it  and  prepare  them  for  it.  Many  civil  service  duties 
are  found  in  miniature  in  and  near  schools  and  can 
be  taught  through  school  chores  or  neighbourhood 
chores  that  need  to  be  done.  The  civics  class  that  is 
taught  how  to  inspect  streets  for  cleanliness  and  order, 
how  to  inspect  and  test  foods  for  wholesomeness  and 
purity  and  how  to  report  violations  of  the  sanitary 


152  UNIVERSAL  TRAINING 

code,  is  being  taught  respect  for  sanitation  and  food 
inspection  and  is  being  prepared  for  such  service  in 
some  later  official  capacity.  In  fact,  for  a  very  large 
number  of  civil  posts  the  preparation  is  mainly  of 
character  and  general  capacities,  such  as  those  called 
for  in  the  chapter  on  minimum  essentials  for  privates, 
plus  facility  in  clerical  work  which  the  schools  can 
easily  give. 

The  girl  who  is  accredited  to  private  employers  by 
a  high  school  as  a  stenotypist  or  stenographer  or  clerk 
should  be  capable  of  passing  civil  service  tests  for 
such  posts.  The  boy  who  takes  bookkeeping  in  the 
eighth  grade  or  in  high  school  should  be  required  to 
meet  the  civil  service  tests  before  being  certified  by 
his  school  as  proficient  enough  to  leave  the  course. 
Certainly  the  civil  service  tests  should  in  no  subject 
be  less  exacting  than  the  standard  set  up  in  the  public 
schools  for  graduation  or  certificate.  No  one  ought 
to  be  unable  to  do  satisfactorily  government  service 
of  the  same  nominal  grade  as  his  own  work,  nor 
ought  any  government  accept  employes  incapable  of 
doing  private  work  satisfactorily.  The  impassable 
wall  between  civil  service  and  private  service  must  be 
lowered,  and  a  flowering  hedge  with  frequent  open- 
ings should  take  its  place  to  encourage  the  freest  pos- 
sible migration  between  the  two. 

Would  it  be  harder  to  secure  efficiency  in  civil 
service  if  we  thought  of  it  as  opportunity  for  growth 


TRAINING    FOR   ENTRANCE   TO   CIVIL   SERVICE       1 53 

and  as  a  training  ground  for  the  nation's  preparedness 
rather  than  as  a  place  for  specialization  or  of  refuge 
from  competition?  Would  not  efficiency  suffer  if  we 
changed  workers  every  few  years  in  order  to  treat 
civil  service  posts  as  apprenticeships?  The  way  pri- 
vate manufacturers  profit  from  by-products  helps  us 
answer  these  questions.  There  was  a  time  when  coal 
oil  was  coal  oil ;  nobody  expected  to  get  anything  from 
it  but  kerosene  to  use  in  lamps.  Today  coal  oil  means 
many  other  things  besides  kerosene;  in  fact  there  are 
more  than  fifty  different  coal  oil  products.  It  mat- 
ters little  that  the  price  of  kerosene  goes  down  when 
the  demand  for  vaseline  and  gasoline  keeps  climb- 
ing. 

Even  if  there  were  some  slight  decrease  in  efficiency, 
due  to  keeping  in  mind  the  educational  purpose  of 
each  civil  service  position,  it  would  still  pay  to  use 
public  employment  for  developing  men  and  women  for 
larger  service  rather  than  for  securing  the  highest 
possible  efficiency  in  each  day's  work  of  each  employe. 
We  must  stop  trying  to  get  just  kerosene-efficiency 
out  of  civil  service,  and  must  develop  by-products  in 
the  form  of  varied  aspiring  human  capacity  that  will 
help  private  and  public  service  alike. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
"  once  in  civil  service  always  in  civil  service "'  par- 
alyses efficiency  and  that  using  civil  service  for  train- 
ing would  greatly  increase  its  day  by  day  efficiency. 


154  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

Using  civil  service  posts  as  stepping  stones  and 
training  grounds  is  an  extensive  practice  today,  only 
it  is  done  from  personal  rather  than  from  patriotic 
motives.  In  the  larger  cities  where  coaching  and 
cramming  for  civil  service  examinations  have  become 
refined  arts,  there  are  many  civil  service  employes 
who  no  sooner  secure  a  post  than  they  begin  centring 
their  interest  on  some  new  examination  that  will  take 
them  out  of  that  post.  Unfortunately  this  practice  is 
not  confined  to  clerks  and  draughtsmen.  On  the  con- 
trary, public  school  teachers  and  principals  are  divert- 
ing a  tremendous  amount  of  energy  from  their  own 
schools  where  the  educative  processes  and  problems 
are,  to  textbooks  and  university  classrooms  where  edu- 
cative problems  and  processes  are  talked  about. 

Furthermore,  the  fact  that  a  school  principal  has 
only  been  in  a  large  school  six  weeks  does  not  prevent 
his  candidating  for  principal  of  a  larger  school  with 
larger  salary.  Again,  where  posts  are  won  by  "  pull," 
success  is  incentive  to  play  politics  for  some  politically 
higher  post  rather  than  to  play  the  game  of  the  post 
already  won  by  politics  for  all  that  it  can  be  made  to 
give  to  the  public. 

What  individual  ambition  is  already  doing  within 
the  civil  service,  oftentimes  to  its  serious  disadvan- 
tage, public  interest  and  ambition  ought  to  do  by  whole- 
sale, and  most  of  all  for  those  civil  service  employes 
whose  own  ambition  does  not  prompt  them  to  seek 


TRAINING   FOR  ENTRANCE  TO   CIVIL   SERVICE       1 55 

promotion  out  of  jobs  which  they  regard  as  old  age 
pensions. 

The  idea  that  there  should  be  a  ferment  in  civil 
service  and  that  no  person  who  cannot  earn  his  way 
out  of  his  present  group  should  be  continued  in  the 
service  is  taken  up  again  in  Chapter  X.  The  point  to 
be  made  here  is  that  the  public  must  see  to  it  that 
civil  service  rivals  all  other  training  schools  as  a  start- 
ing point  and  stepladder  to  opportunity. 

Much  of  the  discredit  of  civil  service,  even  among 
its  own  best  friends,  is  due  to  the  reputation  of  its 
examinations  for  entrance.  Too  often  these  examina- 
tions fail  completely  to  test  the  applicant's  ability  to 
do  the  work  of  the  job  he  seeks,  and,  instead,  test  his 
memory  of  facts  and  theories  that  he  will  never  have 
a  chance  to  use  if  he  gets  his  job. 

Such  examinations  are  no  more  absurd  for  civil 
service  than  they  are  for  public  schools.  Until  we 
have  stopped  them  in  the  public  schools  we  shall 
probably  continue  them  in  civil  service.  Having  them 
stopped  everywhere  will  depend  largely  upon  the  in- 
terest which  citizens  take  and  the  frankness  with 
which  they  ask  for  fitting  tests  of  persons  who  are  to 
serve. 

I  was  once  asked  what  I  thought  about  some  ques- 
tions that  it  was  proposed  to  ask  competitors  for  a 
post  which  required  ability  to  correctly  circulate  in- 
formation.    My  answer  expresses  the  new  conviction 


I56  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

of  those  who  want  each  civil  service  post  to  be  a 
training  ground:  any  person  who  can  answer  those 
questions  will  prove  his  disqualification  for  the  job, 
because  anybody  with  that  amount  of  disserviceable 
information  in  his  head  will  probably  be  unable  to 
see  the  human  problems  and  the  living  people  with 
which  that  information  bureau  must  deal. 

A  preference  for  personality,  character  and  proved 
capacity  to  do  the  thing  called  for  is  being  shown  by 
civil  service  commissioners.  If  a  man's  business  is 
to  interpret  health  statistics,  he  is  no  longer  asked  to 
write  a  small  book  about  statistics  as  a  science,  but  is 
given  health  statistics  to  interpret.  When  Chicago 
wanted  a  new  librarian  it  did  not  abandon  examina- 
tions just  because  this  was  a  great  educational  post, 
but,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  many  leading  reformers, 
held  civil  service  tests.  Only  instead  of  asking  ques- 
tions it  invited  competitors  whose  previous  experience 
and  recommendations  indicated  their  general  fitness 
to  visit  Chicago,  study  its  library  service  and  its  library 
needs  and  then  write  a  program  for  meeting  future 
library  needs.  That  kind  of  test  it  is  reasonable  for 
us  to  expect  well-intentioned  elected  officers  to  apply 
when  selecting  secretaries  and  commissioners. 

Training  for  entrance  to  civil  service  by  way  of 
rendering  public  service  is  not  easy  to  organize,  but 
happily  is  not  impossible  either.  There  are  always 
foods  to  be  inspected,  always  streets  to  be  cleaned, 


TRAINING    FOR   ENTRANCE   TO    CIVIL   SERVICE       1 57 

always  bridges  to  be  repaired.  There  is  always  police 
work  to  be  done  so  that  there  is  no  excuse  for  testing 
our  would-be  policemen  in  what  they  know  rather  than 
in  what  they  can  see  and  can  do.  Certain  it  is  that 
it  is  vastly  easier  for  people  who  want  to  use  com- 
munity chores  for  training  purposes  to  find  them  and 
mobilize  them  than  it  is  for  persons  who  do  not  want 
to  try.  The  schools  are  generously  pointing  the  way 
through  their  many  forms  of  learning  by  doing  things 
that  need  to  be  done. 

When  Portland  gives  courses  in  cafeteria  work  and 
allows  credit  for  homework  in  dishwashing,  bathing, 
gardening,  or  when  it  conducts  a  grocery  store  in 
every  school  to  aid  in  teaching  arithmetic,  geography, 
economy  and  courtesy,  it  is  showing  how  boys 
and  girls  can  be  trained  for  entrance  into  civil  serv- 
ice. 

When  Boise  City  boys  help  build  the  new  high 
school,  when  Bridgeport  boys  take  private  carpentry 
contracts,  when  200  New  York  schools  have  different 
grades  of  pupil  self-government,  when  Fitchburg  boys 
earn  their  way  through  high  schools  by  working  half 
time  in  factories,  when  Little  Rock  high  school  pupils 
take  charge  of  one  whole  issue  of  a  local  twelve-page 
newspaper,  they  are  proving  that  school  chores  and 
community  chores  can  be  organized  for  training. 

Few  lessons  can  be  learned  at  military  camps  which 
cannot  also  be  learned  from  service  on  a  health  squad 


I58  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

or  police  squad.  Once  organized,  it  will  cost  less  to 
try  out  candidates  for  civil  service  through  work  that 
needs  to  be  done  than  it  now  costs  to  give  them  written 
examinations.  Moreover,  it  will  always  be  fairer  to 
observe  applicants  at  their  work  than  to  judge  them 
by  what  they  can  write  or  say  about  their  work. 

Among  the  existing  means  of  training  men  and 
women  for  entrance  to  public  service  are  the  private 
commercial  school;  service  in  private  business  where 
every  type  of  public  activity  has  its  counterpart;  and 
beginnings  in  public  schools  and  colleges. 

In  Cincinnati,  where  students  of  engineering  work 
one  week  in  the  university  and  one  week  in  a  factory, 
engineering  students  are  in  the  same  way  training  to 
be  municipal  chemists  and  municipal  roadbuilders. 
They  start  their  work  one  week  in  the  health  depart- 
ment analysing  foods  that  need  to  be  analysed  to  pro- 
tect public  health;  the  next  week  they  go  back  to  the 
university  where  a  supervisor  or  "  co-ordinator  "  sees 
to  it  that  what  they  learn  in  the  university  fits  what 
they  do  at  the  laboratory  just  as  the  week  before  he 
saw  that  educational  use  was  being  made  of  their  time 
in  the  health  laboratory. 

A  step  which,  when  widely  copied,  will  promote 
training  of  elective  as  well  as  appointive  public  servants 
was  taken  in  191 7  by  the  Wisconsin  legislature,  namely, 
it  voted  for  a  training  school  for  public  service  within 
the  state  university  which  shall  train  men  for  different 


TRAINING    FOR   ENTRANCE   TO    CIVIL   SERVICE       1 59 

municipal  and  state  services  not  by  lecturing  to  them, 
not  by  quizzing  them,  not  by  requiring  them  to  read 
books,  but  by  having  them  do  different  kinds  of  public 
work  which  the  people  of  Wisconsin  need  to  have 
done.  Already  Wisconsin's  library  school  has  proved 
the  efficacy  of  this  method  and  requires  eight  of  forty 
weeks  to  be  spent  undergoing  carefully  supervised 
tests  of  personality,  promptness,  accuracy,  and  special 
aptitude  for  library  service  in  public  libraries  through- 
out the  state.  Readers  will  see  that  this  method  of 
giving  candidates  truer  pictures  of  public  service  and 
fairer  tests  of  their  own  capacity  also  gives  those 
who  pay  the  bills  value  received  in  service  for  the 
instruction  they  make  possible. 

Special  schools  for  civil  service  should,  wherever 
possible,  be  conducted  by  the  public  which  is  to  em- 
ploy those  servants.  There  are  several  reasons  for 
this:  in  the  first  place  it  is  not  fair  to  require  that 
the  small  proportion  of  us  who  take  civil  service  ex- 
aminations shall  first  obey  the  compulsory  attendance 
laws,  then  help  pay  taxes  for  city  colleges  and  normal 
schools,  and  in  addition  go  at  their  own  expense  to 
private  schools  for  civil  service  preparation.  Nor  is 
it  fair  that  having  spent  eight  or  twelve  years  in  public 
schools  they  have  failed  to  acquire  high  enough  stand- 
ards for  simpler  posts  in  civil  service.  Again,  so  far  as 
the  private  coaching  school  earns  its  money  by  helping 
applicants  guess  at  what  the  questions  are  going  to 


l6o  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

be  or  helping  them  learn  earlier  questions,  certainly  the 
public  ought  to  protect  itself  against  examinations  that 
can  be  passed  in  that  way  and  against  employes  whose 
preparation  is  thus  obtained. 

Since  public  mindedness  should  be  a  prime  test  for 
civil  service,  there  should  at  least  be  a  preference  given 
for  preparation  secured  in  public  schools  even  if  it 
is  not  yet  feasible  to  require  that  entrants  be  taken 
only  from  public  school  graduates.  Where  persons 
are  taken  whose  training  is  not  obtained  in  publicly 
supported  schools,  public  employment  should  be  for 
only  a  short  period  and  only  for  the  purpose  of  publi- 
cizing him.  This  would,  of  course,  result  in  closer  co- 
operation between  civil  service  commissions  acting  for 
public  officers  and  the  public  schools  and  universities. 

Such  requirement  would  mean  that  the  public  would 
know  what  attitude  new  recruits  bring  to  civil  service 
and  would  guarantee  the  possession  not  merely  of 
capacity  to  do  particular  things,  but  of  knowledge 
about  and  interest  in  those  public  affairs  that  are  the 
minimum  essentials  of  public  service. 

If  public  schools  and  municipal  and  state  universities 
are  to  step  into  the  gap  now  filled  almost  exclusively 
by  private  commercial  schools  and  teachers,  the  enor- 
mous savings  which  would  accrue  to  individuals  would 
be  partially  offset  by  a  resulting  considerable  cost  to 
taxpayers  for  instructing  them.  Perhaps  the  cost  of 
maintaining  these  schools  should  be  borne  by  those 


TRAINING   FOR   ENTRANCE   TO    CIVIL   SERVICE       l6l 

who  attend  them  with  provision  for  paying  tuition  out 
of  later  earnings. 

Proof  of  ability  to  enter  public  service  has  not  yet 
been  literally  applied  to  candidates  for  the  legislature 
or  other  elective  offices.  In  effect,  however,  we  do 
apply  such  tests  oftener  than  we  realize.  During  po- 
litical campaigns  men  and  women  who  have  had  previ- 
ous experience  make  a  great  point  of  advertising  it. 
Inexperience  is  ably  advertised  by  opponents.  There 
are  still  some  sections  of  the  country,  even  where 
women  vote,  which  are  regaled  during  election  time 
by  paid  advertisements  in  newspapers  that  candidate 
John  Doe  should  be  elected  because  he  has  a  wife  and 
five  children,  or  a  wooden  leg  and  needs  the  salary; 
or  because  he  is  a  firm  believer  in  some  biblical  injunc- 
tion that  is  a  universal  human  platform.  Yet  in  spite 
of  our  ignoring  specific  tests  for  city  officers  we  have 
done  surprisingly  well. 

One  reason  why  our  elective  officers  have  done  so 
well  in  spite  of  their  lack  of  preparation  is  that  the 
public  mind  speaks  through  them  and  they  tend  to 
live  up  to  the  most  definite  and  critical  expectation 
that  is  voiced  by  any  part  of  the  public. 

We,  the  public,  shall  do  better  in  proportion  as  we 
insist  upon  knowing  what  candidates  have  been  — 
specifically  —  and  have  done  —  specifically  —  before 
we  vote  for  them.  Just  as  civil  service  commissioners 
early  found  that  knowledge  about  bookkeeping  was 


l62  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

not  the  same  as  ability  to  keep  a  set  of  books,  so  voters 
are  rapidly  coming  to  distinguish  between  knowledge 
about  government  and  ability  to  do  government's 
work. 

In  conclusion,  one  of  the  minimum  essentials  of 
every  American  citizen  is  to  think  straight  on  the 
question  of  organization  by  public  employes  for  any 
other  purpose  than  for  improving  their  own  service 
and  for  stating  the  facts  about  any  needs  of  that 
service.  It  must  become  an  A  B  C  of  patriotism  and 
government  efficiency  that  the  government  neither  in 
peace  time  nor  in  war  time,  and  neither  in  city  nor 
in  nation,  shall  permit  a  small  fraction  of  the  public 
on  the  public's  pay  roll  to  discontinue  or  to  cripple 
public  service  for  all  the  public  by  strikes  for  higher 
wages  or  other  ends.  The  civil  servant's  right  to  quit 
working  no  one  can  question  except  when  he  stops 
under  conditions  where  securing  a  substitute  is  im- 
possible and  where  thus  public  safety  is  jeopardized. 
The  employe's  right  to  keep  other  people  from  working 
on  public  business  can  never  be  conceded  by  a  Democ- 
racy. America  cannot  afford  to  go  farther  than  it 
has  already  gone  in  the  direction  of  that  species  of 
tyranny  by  taxeaters  over  taxpayers  which  in  France 
is  epitomized  by  the  "  fonctionnaire  "  or  civil  servant 
hierarchy.  No  less  repugnant  to  Democracy's  ideals 
is  it  that  any  servant  of  all  the  people  shall  be  unjustly 
treated,  overworked,  underpaid  or  otherwise  restricted 


TRAINING    FOR   ENTRANCE   TO    CIVIL   SERVICE       163 

in  opportunity  to  become  progressively  efficient.  The 
way  to  achieve  justice,  however,  is  for  the  citizen 
who  is  trained  for  service  to  require  application  by 
the  public  of  employment  methods  which  in  private 
business  have  abolished  strikes  and  adjusted  labour 
disputes  by  way  of  discovering,  recognizing  and  pro- 
moting labour's  capacities. 


CHAPTER  X 

TRAINING    FOR    THE   PROFESSIONS 

Once  when  proctoring  a  medical  examination  — 
medical  students  considered  cheating  respectable  if  not 
detected,  so  that  it  was  necessary  to  have  somebody 
proctor,  and  no  medical  student  was  willing  to  tell  on 
a  fellow  professional  —  I  noticed  that  every  one  of  the 
first  ten  men  who  handed  in  papers  had  misread  the 
ninth  question.  This  fact  was  stated  to  the  hundred 
students  who  remained.  Of  the  next  dozen  papers 
handed  in  two  out  of  three  showed  that  this  question 
was  still  being  misread,  which  fact  was  reported. 
Several  men  then  came  forward  and  asked  if  it  meant 
this  or  that,  whereupon  I  announced  that  I  had  already 
gone  farther  than  a  proctor  should  go,  that  they  were 
expected  to  understand  the  English  of  their  examina- 
tion questions,  but  that  if  there  were  two  possible 
meanings  it  would  be  well  to  play  safe  and  answer 
both  possible  questions.  "  In  fact,"  I  said,  "  it  is  a 
safe  rule  in  an  examination  to  tell  all  you  know." 
This  suggestion  appealed  to  several  men  who  annotated 
their  notes  elaborately.     On  one  paper  the  expression 

"  secretory  glands  "  was  starred  and  the  footnote  read: 

164 


TRAINING   FOR   THE   PROFESSIONS  165 

"  We  call  them  secretory  because  we  know  very  little 
of  what  they  do." 

This  first  disillusionment  regarding  supposedly  best 
trained  professional  men  was  followed  shortly  by  the 
discovery  that  in  the  city  where  these  men  were  being 
trained  physicians  of  high  standing  supported  the 
mayor  in  his  dismissal  of  a  woman  physician  who  not 
only  argued  the  public's  right  to  know  the  truth  about 
an  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever  but  answered  the  mayor's 
claim  that  business  must  be  considered  by  asking,  "  Is 
business  more  important  than  human  life?" 

Later  observations  showed  practising  physicians 
throughout  the  country  not  only  uninformed  with 
respect  to  the  public  obligation  of  their  profession  but 
actively  opposed  to  health  legislation  and  health  pro- 
tection by  government  authorities. 

Each  new  disillusionment  sharpened  my  interest  in 
the  layman's  right  to  protection  against  physicians 
who  knew  very  little  of  what  they  themselves  were 
doing.  Gradually  I  came  to  see  that  the  medical  pro- 
fession enjoyed  no  monopoly  on  lack  of  preparation 
to  do  their  work  well,  but  that  dentists,  lawyers,  engi- 
neers and  ministers  were  also  being  accredited  by  uni- 
versities and  state  exemption  boards  before  they  were 
prepared. 

Licenses  to  practise  were  given  irrevocably  without 
requiring  an  hour's  previous  practice  or  a  scintilla  of 
evidence  that  the  would-be  practitioner  could  actually 


1 66  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

do  what  books  and  lectures  had  told  him  ought  to  be 
done. 

Will  the  reader  begin  his  thinking  about  the  train- 
ing for  public  service  which  should  be  required  of  all 
men  before  their  admission  to  professions  and  during 
their  practice  of  it  by  running  over  quickly  in  his 
mind  the  doctors,  dentists,  engineers,  nurses,  etc., 
whom  he  knows  ?  How  many  of  them  would  you  say 
give  evidence  of  being  "  inspired  by  the  true  spirit  of 
service  to  the  commonwealth  "  ?  Will  you  not  take  the 
time  to  list  some  of  your  observations  which  illustrate 
the  superiority  of  public-spirited  professional  work 
over  private-spirited  professional  work? 

On  gala  occasions  like  commencement  days,  annual 
conventions,  and  presentations  of  loving  cups  for  dis- 
tinguished service,  members  of  the  learned  professions 
are  in  the  habit  of  emphasizing  the  public  service 
aspects  of  their  work.  Up  to  the  final  laying  on  of 
hands  that  marks  their  admission  to  law  or  medicine 
or  ministry  neophytes  are  constantly  told  that  theirs 
is  a  public  service  profession ;  that  it  has  distinct  un- 
evadable  obligations;  that  it  exists  not  for  itself  alone 
but  for  state  and  humanity. 

Nor  is  this  quasi-public  character  of  certain  pro- 
fessions mere  oratorical  myth  or  mist.  The  neophytes 
believe  every  word  of  it  and  are  more  or  less  perma- 
nently inspired  by  the  thought  that  they  will  occupy 
exceptionally  advantageous  positions  through  which  to 


TRAINING   FOR   THE   PROFESSIONS  167 

benefit  their  fellow-men.  The  painters  of  these  word 
pictures  also  believe  what  they  say  about  the  possibility 
of  their  profession  however  cynical  they  may  feel  as 
to  the  gap  between  what  might  always  be  and  what 
too  often  is. 

The  layman  who  is  either  the  beneficiary  or  malefi- 
ciary  of  professional  ideals  and  practice  cannot  safely 
forget  for  one  instant  what  leaders  in  these  public 
service  professions  have  from  time  immemorial  set 
up  as  the  layman's  minimum  rights  when  dealing  with 
professional  men. 

The  higher  the  standard  of  general  intelligence  the 
more  dependent  society  becomes  upon  professions  and 
the  more  important  to  every  man  is  the  training  which 
is  given  for  the  professions.  It  is  from  the  learned 
professions  that  the  public  secures  its  indispensable 
builders  and  counsellors.  The  public  needs  engineers 
of  many  kinds  and  it  cannot  afford  bunglers;  it  needs 
lawyers  and  surgeons,  physicians  and  teachers.  Even 
if  it  did  not  give  a  quasi-monopoly  to  those  who  are 
admitted  to  many  professions  it  would  still  need  to 
concern  itself  about  the  qualifications  of  those  who 
are  to  do  its  counselling,  curing,  building  and  teaching. 

When  professional  opinion  conflicts  with  lay  opinion 
it  is  extremely  difficult  for  laymen  to  make  headway 
in  calling  for  higher  standards  of  preparation  by  pro- 
fessional men.  When,  however,  laymen  can  quote 
"  distinguished  professional  men  "  it  is  easy  to  secure 


l68  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

remedial  and  preventive  action  because  the  layman  can 
speak  thenceforth  with  authority. 

Two  distinguished  specialists,  speaking  to  two  dis- 
tinguished groups  within  their  own  profession,  have 
furnished  us  laymen  with  characterizations  of  present 
conditions  and  with  a  creed  for  improving  those  con- 
ditions which  we  will  do  well  to  keep  in  mind  when 
thinking  of  all  professions. 

.  The  first  is  quoted  before  stating  the  profession  to 
which  it  was  addressed.  Will  the  reader  ask  if  it 
applies  to  the  engineers,  social  workers,  statisticians, 
lawyers,  dentists,  physicians  and  other  professional 
specialists  known  to  him?  Before  being  influenced  by 
who  said  it,  will  the  reader  please  ask  whether  it 
squares  with  his  personal  observations  or  if  he  is  a 
professional  man,  with  his  personal  experiences : 
"  We  vote  but  we  do  not  really  serve  our  community, 
state  and  country.  We  have  been  so  absorbed  in  ad- 
vancing the  material  interests  with  which  we  have 
been  connected  that  we  have  failed  to  exercise  our 
proper  influence  in  behalf  of  the  community.  We 
establish  splendid  technical  schools  whose  graduates 
are  second  to  none  as  regards  technical  training.  Few 
of  these  graduates,  however,  have  been  inspired  by 
the  true  spirit  of  service  to  the  commonwealth." 

The  foregoing  characterization  is  not  by  an  irre- 
sponsible radical  or  by  a  captious  layman.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  quoted  from  President  L.  D.  Ricketts  of 


TRAINING    FOR    THE    PROFESSIONS  169 

the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  in  his 
address  this  very  year  to  the  Princeton  Engineering 
Association. 

One  further  quotation  ought  first  to  be  read  with 
reference  to  the  reader's  personal  experience  and  ob- 
servation. Its  indictment  is  likewise  not  by  some  dis- 
gruntled professional  man  or  some  layman  with  a 
grievance  or  some  phrase  maker.  On  the  contrary, 
it  is  quoted  directly  from  an  address  to  the  American 
Bar  Association  in  19 16  by  the  president  of  that  body, 
ex-Senator  Elihu  Root.  While  it  refers  particularly 
to  the  training  and  practice  of  lawyers,  will  the  reader 
please  ask  if  this  same  kind  of  message  is  needed  by 
every  other  profession : 

"  Too  many  of  us  have  been  trying  to  get  some- 
thing out  of  the  country  and  too  few  of  us  have  been 
trying  to  serve  it.  With  loyalty  and  sincere  devotion 
the  principal  law  schools  and  judges  on  the  bench 
defend  the  public  right  to  effective  service;  but  against 
them  is  continually  pressing  the  tendency  of  the  bar 
and  the  legislatures,  and  in  a  great  degree,  of  the 
public,  toward  the  exclusively  individual  view. 

"  No  untrained  lawyer  is  entitled  to  impair  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  great  and  costly  machinery  which  the 
people  of  the  country  provide,  not  for  the  benefit  of 
lawyers  but  for  the  administration  of  the  law. 

"  What  can  be  done,  what  must  be  done,  to  make 
true  and  uninterrupted  progress  is  that  those  members 


I70  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

of  the  Democracy  to  whom  opportunity  has  brought 
instruction  in  dynamics  of  law  and  self-government, 
shall  so  lead  and  direct  the  methods  of  development 
as  to  respond  to  the  noblest  impulses,  the  highest  prin- 
ciples, the  most  practical  idealism  of  this  great  law- 
making multitude,  so  that  the  growth  of  the  law  shall 
receive  its  impetus  from  the  best  and  not  from  the 
worst  forces  of  the  community  and  be  guided  by  the 
wisdom  and  not  by  the  folly,  the  virtues  and  not  the 
vices,  of  the  people." 

For  the  citizen  wishing  to  do  his  part  to  insure 
properly  trained  professional  men  there  are  five  mini- 
mum essentials  of  conviction  and  action: 

1.  There  should  be  wider  publicity  of  the  facts  about 
each  profession,  its  standards  for  admission,  the  kinds 
of  work  it  does,  its  rewards,  the  number  who  make  a 
living  by  it,  and  the  special  qualifications  for  success 
in  it. 

2.  Special  training  for  citizenship,  special  knowl- 
edge of  public  service  needs  and  opportunities  and 
of  governmental  aims,  methods,  and  results  should  be 
a  prerequisite  of  admission  to  professional  courses  of 
law,  dentistry,  engineering,  etc., —  including  the  min- 
istry. 

3.  No  person  who  has  not  proved  his  preparation 
for  service  by  actually  doing  what  he  has  learned  how 
to  do  should  be  considered  fit  for  any  one  of  the 
learned  professions. 


TRAINING   FOR   THE   PROFESSIONS  171 

4.  No  person  should  be  admitted  to  any  profession 
who  has  not  had  theoretical  and  field  training  in  the 
public  uses  which  are  being  made  and  which  should 
be  made  of  his  profession. 

5.  In  every  community  the  men  and  women  who 
are  practising  each  profession  should  maintain  an 
active  organization  for  giving  to  the  public  currently 
the  benefit  of  the  special  insight  and  special  experience 
which  are  gained  by  practising  that  profession. 

Instead  of  telling  the  ambitious  sons  of  recent  im- 
migrants merely  that  the  professions  of  law  and  medi- 
cine are  overcrowded,  society  should  see  to  it  that 
concrete  facts  about  the  overcrowding  are  made  known 
and  also  concrete  facts  about  the  education  and  per- 
sonal background  needed  for  success  in  those  profes- 
sions. The  public  should  see  that  the  rewards  of  other 
professions  are  made  known  to  boys  and  girls  whose 
main  reason  for  going  into  law  or  medicine  or  engi- 
neering is  to  secure  social  prestige.  It  is  entirely 
practicable  to  have  high  school  boys  know  the  possible 
and  probable  rewards  from  engineering,  from  teach- 
ing, from  business,  from  salesmanship,  whether  these 
rewards  be  counted  in  money  only  or  in  public  recog- 
nition, leisure  and  opportunity  for  self -culture. 

Finally,  it  is  entirely  possible  to  have  facts  of  this 
kind  generally  circulated  among  parents  of  all  classes, 
particularly  since  the  public  school  machinery  is  avail- 
able for  giving  such  instruction. 


IJ2  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

The  only  persons  who  may  safely  be  accepted  into 
learned  professions  without  presenting  evidence  of 
knowledge  about  the  ends  and  means  of  government 
when  first  registering  for  courses,  are  those  whose 
courses  will  later  insure  such  training  either  in  transit 
or  during  a  probationary  period  between  the  comple- 
tion of  the  course  and  the  final  legal  admission  to  the 
profession.  Nor  is  this  proposal  visionary  because  it 
is  being  thoroughly  tested  in  several  places. 

At  Northwestern  University  teachers  who  are  study- 
ing to  equip  themselves  for  the  profession  of  school 
supervisor  are  required  to  supplement  lecture  and  text- 
book by  work  in  the  public  schools  of  Evanston.  For 
the  same  reason  and  by  similar  field  services  profes- 
sional managers  are  being  prepared  at  Teachers'  Col- 
lege of  Columbia  University  through  field  surveys  of 
rural  and  city  schools  in  several  New  York  counties, 
and  through  field  studies  of  Connecticut  schools  under 
the  direction  of  Connecticut  superintendents. 

As  mentioned  earlier,  Wisconsin's  library  school  not 
only  gives  practical  training  through  each  of  the  thirty- 
two  weeks  spent  at  Madison,  but  as  a  fitting  climax, 
before  finally  accrediting  the  student,  requires  her  to 
serve  an  apprenticeship  under  rigid  supervision  in 
various  public  libraries  where  the  student  helps  do 
work  that  needs  to  be  done. 

The  testing  of  men  by  the  University  of  Cincinnati 
on  paid   tasks   in   real    factories   soon   discloses   any 


TRAINING   FOR   THE    PROFESSIONS  173 

weak  points  of  preparation  of  health  or  of  character 
which  the  prospective  engineer  may  have.  No  man 
can  survive  his  apprenticeship  who  as  journeyman 
working  his  way  up  in  a  busy,  industrial  plant  proves 
himself  an  undesirable  man  for  the  engineering  pro- 
fession. That  this  process  is  appreciated  by  the 
would-be  engineer  is  shown  from  the  fact  that  for 
every  vacancy  there  are  from  thirty  to  forty  applica- 
tions each  year. 

To  require  professional  men  to  show  by  doing  as 
well  as  by  answering  would  seem  a  very  rudimentary 
requirement.  To  many  people  it  will  come  as  a  sur- 
prise that  there  is  anywhere  a  dentist  or  physician  or 
lawyer  or  nurse  who  has  not  been  tried  out  with 
practical  problems  under  the  supervision  of  some  one 
who  knew  how  to  deal  with  those  problems  before 
being  turned  loose  upon  a  trusting  and  dependent 
public.  The  public  can  refuse  to  be  practised  upon 
by  impractically  prepared  physicians,  dentists,  nurses 
and  lawyers. 

During  the  probationary  period  of  each  profession 
it  would  be  possible  for  the  public  to  arrange  field 
tests  entirely  in  line  with  each  profession's  activity 
which  would  better  test  candidates'  fitness  than  the 
same  spent,  for  example,  in  military  camps,  unless 
that  time  itself  were  spent  in  practising  a  profession. 

For  want  of  just  this  kind  of  motivated  testing 
while  approaching  their  professions  and  while  first 


174  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

trying  themselves  in  it,  tens  of  thousands  of  profes- 
sional men  are  experiencing  the  worst  tragedy  which 
an  honest  mind  and  soul  can  experience,  namely,  dis- 
satisfaction with  their  life  work  due  to  fear  or  knowl- 
edge that  they  are  misfits. 

Occasionally  individuals  break  away  and  do  for 
themselves  at  great  expense  what  training  schools 
should  have  required  them  to  do.  For  example,  a 
young  man  took  his  degree  in  theology  with  high 
honours ;  went  to  a  rural  church ;  served  one  year  and 
recognized  his  inability  to  help  his  people  meet  their 
problems.  What  should  he  do?  Keep  on?  Frankly 
admit  his  unfitness  and  ask  his  people  to  help  him 
fit  himself  while  continuing  the  position  for  which  he 
was  not  yet  fitted?  Or  seek  appointment  to  a  city 
church?  What  he  did  was  to  give  up  his  work  tem- 
porarily, go  back  to  school  for  a  course  in  rural  soci- 
ology and  agriculture,  and  then  take  up  again  his 
work  with  a  rural  church.  He  came  back  convinced 
that  as  a  minister  he  could  render  no  better  service  to 
his  church  and  community  than  to  help  the  farmers 
produce  more  corn,  direct  the  young  people  in  whole- 
some amusements  and  acquaint  the  farm  women  with 
the  labour-saving  devices  that  would  answer  their 
appeal  for  "  not  less  work  but  less  drudgery  and  more 
time  for  reading  and  recreation." 

It  is  important  to  raise  the  bars  as  high  as  possible 
for    admission    to    special    courses    for    professional 


TRAINING   FOR   THE   PROFESSIONS  175 

training.  Not  only  is  it  fairer  to  eliminate  persons 
before  they  have  spent  four  years  and  three  or  four 
thousand  dollars  only  to  find  that  they  have  been  on 
the  wrong  track,  but  it  is  much  easier  for  training 
schools  to  draw  the  line  at  the  beginning  than  it  is 
after  they  have  accepted  the  student's  investment  of 
time,  money  and  reciprocated  affection. 

A  standard  which  laymen  can  help  secure  from  all 
professional  schools  is  suggested  by  a  private  elec- 
trical school  in  New  York.  The  course  consists  of 
eighty  experiments.  The  length  of  the  course  de- 
pends upon  the  number  of  days  it  takes  the  student 
to  perform  the  experiments  to  the  complete  satisfaction 
of  his  instructor.  As  each  experiment  is  performed 
satisfactorily  its  number  is  punched  on  the  card  which 
is  here  reproduced.  The  passing  mark  is  not  sixty, 
or  seventy-five,  but  is  "  correct." 

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24 


r  8        ...       s>  n 


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19   19  09  6S  8S  £S  95  SS  *S  tS  Z9  IS  OS  6*  7>  L*  9*  S>  H  £♦ 


I76  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

How  could  professional  standards  have  survived 
the  60%  passing  mark?  What  else  but  havoc  can  we 
expect  from  the  almost  universal  practice,  from  kinder- 
garten to  university  and  even  in  postgraduate  work, 
of  letting  unsatisfactory  work  masquerade  as  satis- 
factory if  it  is  marked  60%  ?  In  New  York  State 
the  reason  officially  assigned  for  having  60%  of  the 
passing  mark  in  Regents'  examinations  is  that  other- 
wise pupils  from  the  smaller  schools  could  not  pass. 

Not  long  ago  a  Harvard  professor  defended  a 
doctor  of  philosophy  thesis  about  which  question  had 
been  raised  on  the  ground  that  at  Harvard  it  would 
have  obtained  the  passing  mark  of  50%  ! 

It  was  once  my  privilege  to  help  review  the  stand- 
ards required  by  a  professional  course  in  chemistry. 
Would  you  believe  that  we  were  seriously  criticized  for 
taking  the  position  that  after  allowing  for  differences 
of  opinion  as  to  the  relative  importance  of  knowledge, 
memory  and  ability  to  do,  there  still  remain  a  number 
of  minimum  essentials  lacking  any  one  of  which  should 
actually  disqualify  a  man  for  the  practice  of  chemistry? 
For  example,  the  formula  for  water  is  H20  (two  parts 
hydrogen  and  one  part  oxygen).  The  physician  or 
chemist  who  writes  that  formula  HO  (one  part  hydro- 
gen and  one  part  oxygen)  is  not  two-thirds  correct; 
on  the  contrary,  he  is  100%  incorrect  and  a  dangerous 
man  to  have  about  as  chemist  or  physician. 

The  following  experience  is  typical  and  is  intended 


TRAINING   FOR   THE    PROFESSIONS  177 

to  suggest  that  no  professional  man  should  be  allowed 
to  practise  on  a  trusting,  dependent  public  until  he 
has  proved  by  practising  that  he  knows  when  he  does 
not  know  and  when  he  needs  further  study  or  out- 
side advice.  I  once  went  to  a  physician  for  immedi- 
ate relief  from  hoarseness  which  I  feared  would  pre- 
vent my  keeping  an  appointment  at  a  public  meeting. 
The  physician  was  out  and  a  substitute  was  taking 
his  place.  His  awkwardness,  unnecessary  movements 
and  obvious  uncertainty  as  to  which  of  several  medi- 
cines to  try  and  steps  to  take  led  me  to  ask  a  few 
questions  which  revealed  the  fact  that  it  was  abso- 
lutely his  first  attempt  to  treat  a  case  of  this  kind. 
Many  a  life  has  been  lost  and  many  a  lifelong  injury 
incurred  by  that  kind  of  professional  work.  He  was 
quite  relieved  when  I  suggested  that  for  the  protection 
of  both  of  us  it  would  probably  be  better  for  me  to 
seek  relief  elsewhere. 

When  asked  to  incorporate  courses  which  will  show 
future  professional  men  what  the  general  public  is 
doing  in  co-operation  with  their  profession  and  how 
in  cities,  states  and  nation  the  public  is  using  the  science 
and  art  of  that  profession,  training  schools  are  accus- 
tomed to  answer  that  there  is  too  little  time  for  giving 
what  they  already  try  to  give.  The  only  reply  for 
the  public  is  that  there  is  plenty  of  time  to  make  sure 
that  no  man  shall  be  admitted  to  the  bar  or  to  medi- 
cine, etc.,  who  is  ignorant  of  the  government  he  is 


I78  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

to  represent,  of  its  needs  for  the  profession,  of  his 
profession's  obligation  to  that  government,  or  whose 
main  idea  is  to  defeat  the  purpose  of  the  government 
whose  officer  he  is  supposed  to  be.  The  same  legisla- 
tures which  pass  laws  to  protect  those  already  in  a 
profession  against  other  men  seeking  to  enter  it  can 
also  fittingly  pass  laws  to  protect  the  general  public 
against  professional  men  willing  from  either  cupidity 
or  lack  of  preparation  to  injure  the  public. 

It  is  feasible  and  indispensable  that  the  general 
public  should  require  that  it  be  ascertained  whether, 
for  example,  lawyers  know  enough  and  care  enough 
about  public  interest  to  be  able  to  represent  the  court 
and  the  public.  It  is  feasible  and  indispensable  also 
to  ascertain  regarding  other  professions  whether  ap- 
plicants for  admission  and  persons  already  in  practice 
treat  the  work  of  their  profession  "  as  something  to 
be  done  for  private  benefit  instead  of  treating  it  pri- 
marily as  something  to  be  done  for  the  public  service." 

The  fifth  step  recommended  for  laymen  is  easy  to 
take,  namely  to  see  whether  the  professional  men  in 
their  localities  are  organized  and  if  so  whether  these 
organizations  are  using  the  opportunities  which  all  of 
them  have  to  be  of  incalculable  public  service. 

Public-mindedness  of  lawyers,  doctors,  engineers 
and  a  score  of  other  professions  quickly  found  ex- 
pression when  war  emergencies  showed  the  need  for 
expert  leadership.     In  peace  time  there  is  similar  need. 


TRAINING   FOR   THE   PROFESSIONS  179 

Certified  public  accountants  have  helped  several 
cities  secure  adequate  business  systems  after  first  show- 
ing laymen  that  existing  systems  wasted  money  and 
invited  incompetence. 

Graduate  electrical  engineers  answered  the  public's 
call  for  help  and  showed  one  city  how  a  million  dollars 
could  be  saved  by  placing  fire  alarm  boxes  on  present 
lighting  poles  instead  of  digging  16,000  holes,  erecting 
16,000  new  poles  and  maintaining  16,000  new  lights. 

In  one  year  one  bar  association's  legislative  com- 
mittee analysed  all  proposed  legislation  and  prepared 
no  fewer  than  374  printed  memoranda  to  be  sent  to 
the  governor,  legislature  and  the  press. 

Any  localities  that  have  business  enough  to  support 
professional  men  are  entitled  to  public  service  activity 
by  these  men  in  groups.  Take  for  example  the  pro- 
fession of  statistician.  In  many  localities  there  is  no 
such  profession ;  there  are  men  who  do  statistical  work 
but  there  are  no  men  or  women  who  are  special- 
ists in  those  processes  of  analysis  and  presentation  of 
facts  which  the  world  calls  the  statistical  method. 
All  larger  cities  and  every  state  have  need  for  and 
are  paying  for  this  kind  of  professional  service.  Much 
harm  results  from  the  absence  of  volunteer  activity  by 
statisticians  which  would  correspond  to  a  county  medi- 
cal society's  constant  fight  against  medical  frauds  and 
malpractice.  Hardly  a  week  goes  by  in  any  one  of  our 
large  cities  without  some  statistical  report  which,  if 


l8o  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

acted  upon  by  the  public,  would  cause  irrevocable  waste. 

The  professional  statistician,  however,  because  he  is 
not  organized  into  a  group  for  placing  public  interest 
above  private  sensitiveness,  does  not  yet  feel  free  to 
step  out  into  the  open  and  warn  the  public  as  physicians 
or  lawyers  are  beginning  to  feel  free  to  warn  the 
public  against  public  malpractice  of  those  professions. 

If  a  distinguished  statistician  from  one  of  our  uni- 
versities extolls  a  report  of  averages  that  misrepre- 
sent facts  about  a  school  system  or  infantile  paralysis 
epidemic,  other  statisticians  may  whisper  disagreement, 
but  for  want  of  organized  public  service  motive  do 
not  give  the  public  the  special  knowledge  they  possess. 

Because  the  profession  of  statistician  is  progres- 
sively growing  in  importance  a  concrete  illustration  is 
given  to  fix  in  the  reader's  mind  the  principle  of 
group  action  for  the  public.  A  state  university  officer 
was  asked  by  a  board  of  regents  to  investigate  the 
declaration  that  first  year  students  were  being  taught 
not  by  experienced  instructors  but  by  men  and  women 
without  experience  in  teaching.  The  regents  were  lay- 
men unaccustomed  to  analysing  professional  reports 
of  statisticians.  The  report  came  back  that  the  al- 
legation was  untrue  and  unjust.  To  prove  it  a  de- 
partment was  cited  where  the  average  teaching  experi- 
ence of  first  year  instructors  before  coming  to  the 
faculty  was  five  years.  Later  analysis  showed  that 
this  average  was  obtained  as  follows : 


TRAINING  FOR  THE  PROFESSIONS        l8l 

The  first  instructor  had  taught     o  days 


« 

second 

<< 

<< 

<< 

o     " 

(( 

third 

f< 

<« 

« 

o     " 

(( 

fourth 

<< 

<< 

<( 

0        " 

« 

fifth 

<< 

<< 

<( 

25  years 

w< 

>rage   teach 

ing 

experience  - 

-  5   years 

Does  the  reader  see  why  there  should  be  an  im- 
personal organization  that  reservoirs  the  highest  mo- 
tives and  the  best  experience  of  all  statisticians  for 
use  by  the  public  when  individual  policies  based  upon 
statistical  evidence  must  be  adopted,  rejected  or  modi- 
fied? 

Laymen  can  ask  whether  the  professional  men  in 
their  communities  —  including  and  particularly  includ- 
ing teachers  —  are  organized  away  from  the  public  to 
exploit  the  public  and  serve  anti-social  or  selfish  forces 
or  are  organized  for  the  public  to  help  and  to  serve. 
Laymen  can  see  that  in  their  localities  professional 
men  have  clearly  and  repeatedly  set  before  them  the 
picture  of  accountability  which  President  Root,  above 
quoted,  held  up  before  lawyers  when  he  told  them 
that  they  must  think  of  their  opportunity  and  technique 
as  aids  to  Democracy  and  not  as  valuable  instruments 
to  get  particular  clients  out  of  trouble : 

"  [Every  professional  association]  is  an  institution 
for  the  public  service  of  its  profession;  to  enlarge  its 
membership,  to  improve  its  procedure,  to  increase  its 
scope  and  efficiency,  to  strengthen  its  authority  and  its 
appeal  to  the  real  life  of  our  time." 


CHAPTER  XI 

TRAINING    FOR    CONTINUANCE   IN    PUBLIC   AND 
QUASI-PUBLIC    SERVICE 

"I  am  a  public  officer.  I  am  fiscal  supervisor  of 
Massachusetts.  My  appointment  to  that  office  was  for 
political  reasons.  I  know  it.  Everybody  knows  it  who 
knows  anything  about  it.  I  had  no  special  prepara- 
tion for  its  great  duties.  Now  that  I  have  the  office, 
however,  I  should  welcome  opportunity  to  obtain  in- 
struction which  will  help  me  discharge  my  obligations  fit- 
tingly." 

The  foregoing  sentiment  was  expressed  to  the  An- 
nual Convention  of  Governmental  Researchers  in 
Springfield,  Mass.,  1916,  after  it  had  been  suggested 
that  training  for  entrance  to  public  service  should  be 
supplemented  by  training  for  continuance  in  service. 

The  case  so  frankly  stated  by  this  Massachusetts 
officer  is  not  isolated. 

Lack  of  previous  training  is  the  rule  rather  than 
the  exception  for  persons  elected  to  office  and  ap- 
pointed to  leading  positions.  Even  Mayor  John  Pur- 
roy  Mitchel  of  New  York,  after  determining  that  he 
would  make  appointments  only  for  fitness,  found  him- 
self after  election  under  such  pressure  that  according 

182 


PUBLIC   AND   QUASI-PUBLIC   SERVICE  183 

to  his  chamberlain,  Henry  Bruere,  writing  two  years 
later,  "  appointments  were  deliberately  made  to  sub- 
ordinate positions  from  the  nominees  of  political  fusion 
or  anti-Tammany  organizations."  Mayor  Mitchel  is 
used  for  illustration  because  rarely  if  ever  had  any 
American  administrator  entered  upon  public  duties 
more  thoroughly  trained  in  the  outlook,  the  theory  and 
the  specific  requirements  of  a  great  post.  When  a 
product  of  extensive  and  intensive  training  and  a  be- 
liever in  training  yields  to  political  expediency,  we 
must  take  it  for  granted  that  less  trained  or  untrained 
administrators  will  continue  to  fill  positions  with  men 
not  trained  for  them. 

Nor  is  the  training  to  do  the  work  of  a  post  the 
only  kind  of  training  that  is  needed.  For  the  same 
reason  that  civil  service  examiners  are  recognizing  per- 
sonality and  previous  experience  as  well  as  specific 
preparation,  it  is  important  that  a  mayor's  secretary 
or  health  commissioner  or  a  president's  secretary  of 
state  possess  certain  social  qualifications  even  if  poorly 
qualified  for  administration.  As  between  utmost  ex- 
pertness  in  secretarial  work  which  does  not  know  a 
governor's  constituency,  and  a  generally  well  equipped 
man  of  pleasing  personality  who  does  know  a  gov- 
ernor's constituency,  the  efficient  governor  will  do  well 
to  select  the  second  man  for  secretary. 

So  long  as  there  are  elections,  there  will  be  election 
debts  to  pay.     It  is  not  yet  generally  possible  to  insist 


184  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

upon  preappointment  specific  preparation;  it  is  possi- 
ble to  insist  upon  specific  preparation  after  appoint- 
ment. 

For  the  layman  to  sputter  against  this  practice  is 
infinitely  less  valuable  than  for  him  to  suggest  a  way 
by  which  previously  untrained  men  shall  secure  train- 
ing after  appointment. 

There  are  seven  different  methods  of  training  per- 
sons for  continuance  in  office.  No  distinction  is  made 
here  between  persons  elected  and  persons  appointed,  nor 
is  effort  made  to  point  out  wherein  either  kind  of  after 
training  is  more  effective  than  another.  What  should 
be  done  depends  upon  the  particular  man  and  the 
needs  of  his  public.  Each  of  the  seven  kinds  of  after- 
training  here  mentioned  will  help  publics  see  to  it 
that  blunders  of  appointment  or  election  shall  do  less 
harm  each  succeeding  month  and  that  the  public  shall 
not  be  a  prey  to  the  mental,  physical  or  spiritual  dis- 
integration of  its  own  employes.  Examination  to  stay 
in  office  is  vastly  more  important  than  examination  to 
get  into  office. 

There  is  a  slang  expression  —  making  lemonade  out 
of  lemons  —  which  helps  describe  the  benefit  which 
will  result  if  the  public  will  fix  in  its  mind  seven  meth- 
ods of  after-training  public  servants: 

( 1 )  The  officer  may  go  to  school 

(2)  The  officer  may  improve  himself  by  conscientious 
and  systematic  self-study 


PUBLIC   AND   QUASI-PUBLIC   SERVICE  185 

(3)  The  officer  may  go  to  school  by  correspondence 

(4)  The  officer  may  organize  or  attend  home  confer- 
ences for  comparing  experience 

(5)  The  officer  may  attend  conventions  of  workers  in 
his  special  field 

(6)  The  officer  may  turn  to  central  official  agencies 
for  criticizing  and  helping  such  as  state  auditors, 
state  commissioners  of  health,  national  bureau  of 
education,  national  bureau  of  standards,  or  the 
national  bureau  which  compiles  municipal  statis- 
tics 

(7)  The  officer  may  train  himself  by  closely  analysing 
the  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction  which  his  service 
gives  the  public  in  day  by  day  service  and  in  an- 
nual statements 

Each  of  these  seven  after-training  schools  is  briefly 
illustrated.  The  term  "  after-training "  is  used  for 
brevity's  sake  and  is  borrowed  from  the  public  school 
world  where  it  has  only  recently  been  discovered  that 
perhaps  the  most  important  work  which  teacher  train- 
ing schools  can  do  is  to  supervise  and  help  the  teacher 
after  she  secures  her  first  position. 

Sentiment  in  favour  of  after-training  of  public  offi- 
cers and  employes  should  be  made  so  strong  that  per- 
sons in  official  positions  who  do  not  seek  after  train- 
ing will  be  regarded  as  delinquents  and  decidedly  be- 
hind the  times. 

Going  to  school  was  tested  by  Ohio's  first  budget 
commissioner.     When  James  M.  Cox  was  elected  gov- 


1 86  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

ernor  in  19 12,  he  selected  for  budget  commissioner 
a  man  known  to  him  as  a  successful  organizer  of 
junior  political  leagues.  The  appointment  was  reason- 
ably justified  by  the  incumbent's  earlier  experience  as 
bank  examiner  and  in  different  kinds  of  private  busi- 
ness. He  had,  however,  and  was  known  to  have  had, 
no  knowledge  whatever  of  budget  making.  Yet  Gov- 
ernor Cox  named  him  in  spite  of  opposition  from  well 
informed  friends  who  were  convinced  that  the  suc- 
cess of  Ohio's  new  budget  law  required  a  commissioner 
trained  in  budget  making. 

In  appointing  the  untrained  man  Governor  Cox  did 
what  other  governors  will  frequently  do  so  long  as 
popular  elections  are  held.  In  taking  the  next  step, 
sending  the  budget  commissioner  away  for  after-train- 
ing, Governor  Cox  set  an  example  which  the  public 
must  interest  other  governors  in  taking,  namely,  sent 
him  to  study  where  the  most  progress  had  been  made 
in  framing,  studying  and  publicly  discussing  budgets. 

There  this  budget  commissioner  in  training  went 
into  the  field  and  helped  make  a  New  York  City 
budget.  Later  he  went  to  New  Jersey  and  helped 
make  a  report  for  campaign  uses  on  New  Jersey's  de- 
ficient method  of  making  a  budget.  With  only  six 
weeks  of  field  experience  plus  suggestions  and  readings 
prompted  by  field  experience,  he  went  back  to  Ohio 
and  in  another  six  weeks  found  for  Governor  Cox 
where  more  and  better  work  could  be  done  for  one 


PUBLIC   AND   QUASI-PUBLIC   SERVICE  187 

million  less  than  had  been  voted  for  the  year  191 3. 
Moreover,  he  conducted  a  budget  school  for  state  em- 
ployes and  officers.  They  became  interested  in  finding 
possibilities  of  retrenchment.  The  legislature  when 
called  in  special  session  was  convinced  by  the  facts 
submitted,  repealed  the  appropriation  bill  for  191 3, 
took  $1,024,000  out  of  it,  added  $60,000  for  schools, 
and  passed  a  new  appropriation  bill  $964,000  smaller. 

If  we  call  this  after-training  "  going  to  school," 
many  officers  will  be  offended.  There  are  still  too 
few  men  who  are  as  frank  as  the  Massachusetts  offi- 
cer quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  If  we 
call  it  a  "  symposium  "  or  a  "  conference  "  the  ablest 
officers  are  glad  to  go  and  exchange  experiences.  To 
meet  this  situation,  Professor  John  E.  Lough  of  New 
York  University  worked  out  a  plan  which  will  even- 
tually be  widely  copied:  meetings  are  most  informal; 
the  teacher  is  called  leader  of  discussion;  and  in- 
stead of  his  talking  or  lecturing  or  reading  texts,  he 
formulates  important  questions,  states  difficult  prac- 
tical problems  and  then  postpones  his  own  contribu- 
tion until  after  the  engineers  or  statisticians  or  physi- 
cians have  answered  each  from  his  own  experience 
and  problems. 

For  policemen,  firemen,  nurses,  many  grades  of  in- 
spector, and  school  teachers,  we  may  call  a  spade  a 
spade,  a  school  a  school,  or  in  many  instances  even 
a  probationary  school.     The  new  civil  servant  is  ad- 


1 88  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

mitted  to  service  on  condition  that  he  shall  attend 
these  official  schools  in  order  to  be  brought  quickly 
abreast  of  the  many  relations  of  his  work  to  com- 
munity welfare. 

One  caution  the  layman  can  help  officers  remember, 
namely,  that  attending  a  school  does  not  of  itself  mean 
fitting  one's  self  for  the  work  discussed  at  that  school. 
School  teachers  may  learn  all  about  health  and  still  be 
such  wretched  exemplars  of  posture  and  health  that 
they  ought  not  be  permitted  to  work  with  children. 
Promotion  examinations  for  school  teachers  have  too 
largely  called  for  theoretical  work  which  leads  the 
minds  and  interests  of  teachers  away  from  the  class- 
room and  makes  them  dislike  rather  than  like  their 
work  as  teachers. 

The  best  substitute  I  know  for  this  disserviceable 
kind  of  after-admission-training  is  a  course  given  by 
Cleveland's  College  for  Teachers  to  the  city  school 
teachers  on  "  How  to  be  Supervised."  The  idea  is  one 
which  laymen  can  help  all  branches  of  civil  service 
adopt :  When  those  who  are  under  direction  and  sup- 
ervision know  clearly  what  kind  of  help  they  are  en- 
titled to  from  their  supervisors  there  is  less  likelihood 
that  supervisors  will  be  able  to  give  the  impression  of 
efficiency  when  they  are  actually  blunderers  and  para- 
sites. 

Preparation  by  self-study  is  far  more  extensive 
among  public  officers  and  employes  than  most  citizens 


PUBLIC   AND   QUASI-PUBLIC   SERVICE  1 89 

have  believed.  If  all  the  civil  servants  who  are  read- 
ing books  and  reports  that  deal  with  the  difficulties 
of  their  work  and  with  the  way  in  which  other  people 
have  met  those  difficulties,  were  to  be  brought  to  one 
city,  there  is  not  a  university  in  the  country  large 
enough  to  take  care  of  them,  nor  could  our  fifty 
largest  convention  halls  seat  them.  These  isolated 
students  are  subscribing  to  magazines,  going  to  night 
schools  and  summer  Chatauquas,  zealously  reading 
newspaper  comments  and  criticisms. 

The  fact  that  there  is  vastly  less  of  this  self-study 
than  there  should  be  is  all  the  more  reason  why  we 
should  give  full  credit  where  we  find  it.  The  man  who 
is  probably  the  most  highly  and  definitely  informed 
person  in  the  United  States  with  respect  to  municipal 
and  state  practices  in  this  country  and  Europe  never 
spent  an  hour  in  school  studying  municipal  govern- 
ment and  has  given  vastly  more  to  conventions  than 
he  has  learned  from  them.  Among  our  congressmen 
are  many  men  whose  knowledge  of  the  theory  and 
facts  of  finance  and  administration  exceeds  that  of 
the  university  men  in  their  own  states,  yet  most  of 
this  knowledge  and  judgment  is  the  result  of  self- 
study. 

Nor  is  it  merely  in  the  high  places  that  civil  servants 
are  studying  almost  night  and  day  to  learn  how  they 
may  better  serve.  Fifty  civil  service  commissions  of 
cities  and  states  are  benefiting  yearly  from  the  self- 


I9O  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

imposed  tasks  and  self -blazed  trails  of  a  young  woman 
examiner  who  makes  a  religion  of  learning  what  a 
civil  service  post  permits  and  requires  before  she 
frames  the  tests  which  are  to  aid  in  selecting  the 
employe. 

From  self -study  is  coming  the  most  important  pub- 
lic service  literature  of  our  day.  The  new  discoveries, 
the  helpful  articles,  the  suggestive  books,  are  largely 
the  products  of  overtime  study.  While  I  am  dictat- 
ing these  lines,  a  school  teacher  of  civics  in  an  adjacent 
room  is  summarizing  the  results  of  this  last  week's 
visiting  and  reading  for  a  textbook  on  practical  civics 
for  teacher  training  schools;  a  school  principal  is 
about  to  report  the  results  of  a  week's  study  of  the 
recreation  facilities  provided  by  the  New  York  Port 
for  longshoremen,  from  which  class  her  children 
come;  to  another  principal's  country  cottage  is  be- 
ing sent  material  from  the  survey  of  his  school  which 
he  is  to  use  in  the  vacation  time  preparation  of  a  book 
on  democracy  in  school  management. 

Correspondence  by  civil  servants  for  after-training 
is  in  its  infancy.  It  will  grow  very  rapidly,  however,  if 
the  general  public  will  encourage  employes  to  use  this 
means  of  self -improvement  and  at  the  same  time  back 
up  their  state  universities  and  departments  of  educa- 
tion when  requesting  funds  to  conduct  such  correspond- 
ence work. 

The  use  of  cabinet  meetings  or  departmental  con- 


PUBLIC   AND   QUASI-PUBLIC   SERVICE  191 

ferences  for  after-training  is  again  a  forward  step 
which  laymen  can  further.  In  the  school  world  such 
conferences  are  traditional,  in  fact  so  traditional  that 
too  often  they  have  become  perfunctory  and  are 
dreaded  by  leaders  and  followers  alike.  Attempts 
are  now  being  made  to  vitalize  them,  as  for  example 
when  a  Western  superintendent  first  drew  out  from 
high  school  teachers  their  innumerable  criticisms  of 
the  elementary  schools  for  failing  to  prepare  pupils, 
and  then  helped  those  high  school  teachers  see  things 
more  sympathetically  and  fairly  by  giving  them, — 
to  their  rude  awakening  —  the  identical  test  which  had 
been  successfully  passed  by  elementary  graduates! 
For  some  time  to  come  there  will  be  no  danger  of 
overdoing  these  departmental  conferences  in  civil 
service  fields.  It  is  not  easy  to  arrange  them  in  small 
cities,  but  even  there  it  is  possible  to  do  in  all  parts 
of  the  country  what  several  small  suburbs  of  Chicago 
did,  namely,  arrange  for  inter-town  conferences  once 
a  month. 

In  larger  cities  and  at  country  seats  it  is  possible  to 
duplicate  the  weekly  lunch  meetings  of  which  Bor- 
ough President  Marcus  M.  Marks  of  Manhattan  has 
made  a  great  success :  all  men  holding  important  posi- 
tions are  invited ;  each  man  pays  for  his  own  lunch ;  all 
persons  are  equal  in  that  conference.  Matters  of  con- 
sequence come  up,  quickly  go  round  for  individual  ex- 
pression of  opinion  or  question,  after  which  the  group 


192 


UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 


as  a  whole  is  asked  for  further  suggestion  or  comment 
and  sometimes  for  a  vote.  This  is  training  for  team 
work  and  leadership,  besides  being  excellent  postgradu- 
ate work  for  every  man  in  office. 

The  convention  as  after-trainer  has  great  possibili- 
ties. Millions  of  dollars  a  year  are  being  spent  by 
public  officers  and  employes  sometimes  at  their  own 
expense,  generally  at  the  public  expense,  in  attending 
county,  state  and  national  conventions.  Taxpayers 
must  not  forget  that  the  money  expense  is  only  a  small 
part  of  the  true  cost  of  these  conventions.  That 
merely  represents  what  in  the  accounting  field  is  called 
expenditure, —  money  paid  out.  In  addition  there  is 
the  cost  of  time  spent  by  the  delegates  away  from  their 
home  work  and  further  the  cost  of  the  energy  diverted 
from  home  work  in  preparing  for  and  thinking  about 
these  conventions. 

That  a  week  spent  by  a  city  manager  at  the  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  National  Association  of  City  Man- 
agers might  bring  more  good  to  his  town  than  forty 
weeks  spent  in  a  university  or  forty  times  the  cost  of 
this  convention  week  is  clear  when  one  thinks  of  the 
vast  amount  of  definite  experience  of  many  cities 
which  might  be  first  reservoired  and  then  tapped  by 
the  convention.  Between  what  might  happen  and  what 
does  happen  is  many  a  slip;  in  fact,  at  last  year's 
convention  of  city  managers,  a  university  professor 
interrupted  the  recital  of  concrete  experience  to  chide 


PUBLIC    AND    QUASI-PUBLIC    SERVICE  I93 

these  searchers  for  specific  help  for  not  sufficiently 
exhibiting  a  philosophical  grasp  of  the  political  science 
involved  in  their  work ! 

With  too  few  exceptions  the  conventions  to  which 
civil  servants  go  are  junkets  and  joyrides;  and  they 
are  no  less  junkets  because  the  beneficiaries  or  victims 
talk  in  eloquent  terms  about  the  inspiration  received, 
cobwebs  of  the  mind  removed,  etc. 

The  way  to  make  conventions  effective  teachers  is 
for  laymen  who  pay  the  bills  to  take  it  for  granted 
that  the  officers  will  come  back  with  definite,  not  gen- 
eral, benefits  and  then  to  call  for  a  list  of  those  specific 
benefits. 

Central  agencies  for  answering  questions  and  giving 
instruction  to  civil  servants  can  do  much  after-train- 
ing for  every  state.  As  repeatedly  suggested  in  these 
chapters,  the  layman  must  never  forget  that  the  gov- 
ernment has  no  reason  for  existence  except  to  serve. 
When  in  doubt,  ask  a  government  bureau.  When 
it  is  clear  that  a  new  kind  of  educational  work  is 
needed  by  civil  servants,  see  that  government  arranges 
to  do  that  educational  work. 

Practice  as  well  as  theory  justifies  the  claim  that  cen- 
tral bureaus  are  competent  educators  when  they  either 
take  help  to  officers  or  send  it  through  the  mails. 

Many  state  boards  of  education  are  sending  out 
officers  to  meet  with  local  school  boards,  to  examine 
local  schools,  and  to  report  their  needs.     Many  states 


194  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

send  trained  librarians  to  help  local  libraries,  experi- 
enced auditors  to  help  local  bookkeepers,  skilled  road 
builders  to  help  local  engineers. 

Many  cities  have  officers  who  are  business  doctors 
going  from  one  department  or  officer  to  another  diag- 
nosing difficulties,  prescribing  remedies,  and  teaching 
how  to  apply  the  remedies. 

Our  national  departments  have  men  making  demon- 
strations in  almost  every  field  of  government  activity 
for  the  help  of  state  or  local  officers.  Notable  im- 
provements have  resulted  from  the  travelling  schools 
of  the  department  of  agriculture. 

It  is  an  interesting  development  that  central  offices, 
established  to  compel  compliance  with  law  or  to  pre- 
vent waste  and  theft  of  money,  quickly  discover  that 
the  best  compulsion  is  instruction  and  help  that  en- 
able local  civil  servants  to  use  best  methods  and  thus 
compel  them  and  their  publics  to  want  best  methods. 

Instruction  by  mail  is  a  vast  business  among  cen- 
tral bureaus.  It  is  needless  to  pile  up  illustrations; 
the  point  for  the  reader  to  remember  is  that  every 
state  should  have  central  bureaus  of  information  to 
which  every  locality  may  apply  for  the  latest  and  best 
methods  of  doing  every  part  of  public  work.  While 
too  much  of  this  correspondence  is  haphazard,  while 
too  many  of  the  officers  are  still  incompetent  and  un- 
ambitious, the  principle  of  central  office  responsibil- 
ity has  been  generally  admitted.     One  of  the  most  in- 


PUBLIC    AND    QUASI-PUBLIC    SERVICE  I95 

teresting  attempts  to  systematize  this  kind  of  help  is 
the  School  Service  Bureau  of  the  Wisconsin  state 
department  of  instruction.  Not  only  does  this  School 
Service  Bureau  answer  questions,  but  over  and  over 
again  it  advertises  to  thousands  of  teachers,  thousands 
of  school  trustees  and  to  all  the  women's  clubs,  men's 
organizations  and  editors  who  will  read  its  story,  that 
it  believes  citizens  should  ask  questions  about  schools 
and  that  it  will  do  its  best  to  answer  questions  even 
if  one  or  more  inspectors  must  be  sent  to  village  or 
city  for  field  inspection  and  consultation. 

General  publicity  about  governmental  affairs  is  the 
last  but  not  the  least  important  of  the  seven  methods 
of  helping  civil  servants  continue  and  improve  upon 
the  efficiency  for  which  we  are  beginning  to  look  at 
time  of  appointment.  Every  time  a  public  officer 
issues  an  annual  report,  and  every  time  he  asks  for 
election  or  re-election,  he  is  sending  himself,  his  com- 
petitors, and  his  public  to  school.  Any  public  that 
calls  for  official  reports  which  describe  work  done 
and  compare  the  quality  and  quantity  of  work  done 
this  year  with  the  quality  and  quantity  of  work  done 
last  year,  is  putting  its  officers  and  their  subordinates 
through  a  valuable  course  of  training. 

Plain  Talk  was  the  heading  of  Director  Morris 
Llewellyn  Cooke's  report  to  the  people  of  Philadel- 
phia. This  man  of  science,  who  is  the  chief  expounder 
of  scientific  management,  the  man  whom  the  Carnegie 


I96  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

Foundation  employed  to  make  its  report  upon  the 
teaching  of  physics  in  American  colleges,  did  not  scorn 
to  begin  his  report  with  the  photograph  of  a  pigeon 
making  her  nest  in  a  window-box  outside  his  offices 

"  Unaffrighted  by  the  sounds  around  her, 
Undistracted  by  the  things  she  sees." 

He  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  public  officers 
should  cultivate  the  science  of  publicity  or  advertising 
in  order  to  enable  their  publics  to  understand  what 
they  have  at  stake  in  public  business  and  how  they 
can  protect  themselves. 

Civil  servants  must  study  the  public  mind  and  its 
needs,  they  must  analyse  their  own  service  and  that 
of  their  colleagues  and  subordinates  in  order  to  secure 
a  hearing  or  re-election. 

New  York  City's  municipal  campaign  of  19 17 
furnishes  fresh  illustration.  Every  day  there  are 
eulogies  to  and  criticisms  of  public  officers  and  their 
employes.  Many  statements  are  made  by,  for  and 
against  officers  which  are  untrue.  Many  other  state- 
ments are  denied  although  they  are  true.  Do  you  feel 
that  it- is  straining  a  point  to  call  this  process  an  after- 
training  for  officers  in  service?  That  it  really  is  not 
straining  a  point  is  proved  by  a  comparison  of  the 
way  in  which  New  York  discusses  its  public  affairs  in 
191 7  with  the  way  it  discussed  those  affairs  ten  years 
earlier.     Where   one  person   formerly  asked   definite 


PUBLIC    AND    QUASI-PUBLIC    SERVICE  I97 

questions  there  are  fifty  persons  today  asking  definite 
questions;  where  formerly  adjectives  and  epithets 
showed  up  an  opposition  today's  criticisms  hold  at- 
tention by  their  concrete  testable  facts;  where  form- 
erly disputants  promised  anything  and  everything 
which  sounded  eloquent  and  appealing,  today  they  are 
listing  specific  criticisms  which  can  quickly  be  tested 
and  are  making  specific  pledges  which  cannot  easily 
be  evaded. 

Wherever  any  public  asks  no  questions  or  vague 
questions,  it  becomes  the  victim  of  political  chicanery 
and  invites  sweeping  promises  that  candidates  have  no 
intention  of  keeping.  Wherever  newspapers  or  in- 
dividual citizens  tell  the  general  public  what  annual 
reports  contain  and  what  they  omit,  where  they  are 
true  and  where  untrue,  where  they  show  progress  and 
where  they  show  time  serving  and  extravagance, 
citizens  will  find  their  civil  servants  in  constant  at- 
tendance upon  one  of  the  best  of  all  known  training 
schools,   i.e.,   enlightened   public   opinion. 

To  secure  for  one's  own  community  an  aggressive 
training  school  of  this  sort  one  of  the  best  steps  is  to 
organize  —  preferably  in  the  city  government,  but  if 
necessary  in  a  merchants'  association  as  in  Minneap- 
olis, or  in  a  woman's  club  —  a  help-your-city-com- 
plaint-and-question-and-snggestion-box  which  will  not 
wait  for  annual  reports  or  for  elections,  but  will  se- 
cure prompt  use  of  every  citizen's  knowledge  about 


198  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

a  political  step  needed.  One  can  speak  confidently 
about  the  effectiveness  of  such  a  question  box  because 
private  business  frankly  admits  that  the  best  teacher 
any  store  or  manufacturing  concern  can  find  is  the 
public  which  it  serves.  Just  as  training  customers  to 
buy  competently  teaches  those  who  serve,  so  well 
trained  citizens  who  applaud,  criticize  and  vote  dis- 
criminately  will  teach  civil  servants  how  to  serve. 

Each  reader  will  profitably  establish  a  home  ques- 
tion box  beginning  with  questions  as  to  which  of 
the  seven  methods  of  after-training  for  civil  servants 
is  or  are  at  work  in  the  governmental  departments  with 
which  the  reader  has  most  to  do. 

One  final  opportunity  to  help  train  civil  servants 
after  appointment  should  be  urged  upon  readers:  in- 
stead of  encouraging  public  employes  to  think  of  civil 
service  as  a  vested  right  to  be  maintained  even  against 
the  public's  interest,  our  preparedness  for  the  future 
may  require  us  to  limit  the  number  of  years  that  any 
one  will  be  permitted  to  work  for  any  governmental 
unit  in  any  one  post  or  rank  of  service. 

When  one  stops  to  think  of  it,  there  is  really  much 
less  reason  for  changing  a  president  every  eight  years 
than  for  changing  a  police  chief  or  city  engineer  or 
head  bookkeeper  or  university  president  oftener  than 
either  death  or  promotion  of  the  incumbent. 

In  other  words,  the  idea  of  permanent  tenure  for 
governmental  employes  must  be  qualified  by  the  re- 


PUBLIC    AND    QUASI-PUBLIC    SERVICE  I99 

quirement  that  any  government  employe  who  cannot 
and  does  not  earn  his  way  out  of  a  group  on  promo- 
tion examinations  and  on  proof  of  efficiency  must  be 
dropped  from  the  service  and  thus  make  room  for 
some  one  else  either  more  able  or  more  ambitious. 
Woods  Hutchinson  says  that  the  only  fresh  air  is  air 
that  makes  us  feel  fresh.  It  is  just  as  true  that  the 
only  efficient  civil  servant  is  the  one  who  makes  it 
easy  for  other  civil  servants  and  for  the  public  to  be 
efficient.  Only  moving  air  makes  us  feel  fresh. 
Moving  civil  servants  will  keep  civil  service  fresh. 

When  we  have  provided  means  of  telling  the  public 
the  truth  about  each  civil  servant's  work,  the  public's 
scrutiny  and  preparation  for  scrutiny  will  become  in 
effect  a  civil  service  examination  for  the  privilege  of 
continuing  in  office. 

When  much  surprise  was  expressed  because  Presi- 
dent E.  F.  Nichols  resigned  the  presidency  of  Dart- 
mouth College,  he  said  that  in  his  seven  years  he  had 
already  made  his  contribution  to  Dartmouth  and  be- 
lieved that  in  the  next  seven  years  another  man  could 
make  a  greater  contribution  than  could  he  by  remain- 
ing. The  Efficiency  Commission  of  Illinois  advised 
three  years  as  the  maximum  term  for  deans  and  ad- 
ministrative officers  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 
After  we  have  once  begun  to  think  generally  of  civil 
service  as  a  training  ground  and  as  part  of  our  na- 
tional program  for  preparedness,  the  "  keep  moving  ,: 


200  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

command  will  be  accepted  as  a  kindness  where  under 
the  old  spoils  system  it  was  known  to  be  spoils. 

Governments  should  take  the  lead  in  curing  individ- 
uals of  the  love  for  ruts,  dread  of  change,  and  con- 
tempt for  the-man-who-pays ;  they  are  attributes  of  a 
civilization  incompatible  with  that  free  circulation  of 
knowledge  about  opportunities  which  characterizes  our 
time. 


CHAPTER  XII 

SPECIALIZED   TRAINING    FOR    PARENTHOOD 

Attempts  to  train  parents  have  been  successful  be- 
yond all  anticipation.  So  far,  however,  as  such  at- 
tempts have  been  organized  on  a  large  scale  they  have 
been  limited  chiefly  to  training  parents  of  the  poor  in 
the  science  and  art  of  conserving  baby  health.  Even 
the  well-to-do  and  the  over  rich  have  learned  their 
lessons  after  successful  wholesale  demonstrations  in 
training  tenement  mothers  how  to  keep  their  babies 
alive.  The  most  ignorant  and  the  most  careless  moth- 
ers conceivable  have  been  brought  together  in  milk  sta- 
tions or  infant  stations  of  great  cities  like  Paris,  Lon- 
don, Chicago  and  New  York,  and  have  been  given  in- 
formation so  dramatically,  so  interestingly,  and  so  con- 
vincingly, that  they  have  learned  to  care  for  their  own 
babies  better  than  highly  educated  mothers  who  lacked 
such  special  training. 

The  first  step  in  specialized  training  for  parenthood 
is  to  make  sure  that  every  school  child  of  both  sexes, 
every  prospective  parent,  and  every  actual  parent  shall 
know  three  facts  about  infant  life: 

201 


203  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

(i)  There  are  easy-to-learn  truths  and  easy-to-take 
steps  which  make  it  inexcusable  that  any  baby  in 
the  United  States  shall  die  from  so-called  infantile 
diseases. 

(2)  It  is  not  enough  to  keep  a  baby  alive;  it  must  be 
kept  well,  which  mothers  and  nurses  can  train 
themselves  to  do. 

(3)  It  is  not  enough  that  babies  shall  be  kept  alive  or 
that  children  shall  be  kept  well ;  they  must  be  made 
worth  while,  for  which  responsibility  fathers  as 
well  as  mothers  must  be  trained. 

How  to  give  training  in  the  elements  of  physical  care 
for  babies  —  pre-natal  care  by  the  mother,  sanitary  en- 
vironment, hygienic  daily  attention,  clean  milk,  clean 
air  and  clean  babies  —  has  been  shown  over  and  over 
again.  Duties  of  mothers  and  nurses  have  become 
standardized.  Minimum  essentials  it  is  easy  to  ob- 
tain from  our  National  Children's  Bureau  and  from 
many  state  or  city  departments  of  health. 

Not  the  least  among  rescuers  and  teachers  are  the 
great  insurance  companies  which  are  giving  house  to 
house  instruction  by  word  of  mouth,  book  and  bed- 
side nursing,  except  in  one  or  two  states  which  still 
make  the  great  mistake  of  prohibiting  companies  to 
insure  infants. 

Likewise,  the  manufacturers  and  retail  stores  have 
done  much  to  educate  parents  in  new  ideas  and  prac- 
tices :  thousands  of  lives  have  been  saved  and  vitality 
incalculably  increased  as  the  result  of  the  money  mak- 


SPECIALIZED    TRAINING    FOR    PARENTHOOD        203 

ing  motive  which  has  advertised  washable  clothes, 
short  and  thin  underwear  in  union  suits,  one-piece  chil- 
dren's suits,  and  convenient  but  inexpensive  layettes. 

Simple  instruction,  lectures,  milk  station  reports, 
laboratory  tests,  moving  picture  film  illustrations  are 
now  made  part  of  the  course  of  study  in  colleges, 
high  schools,  and  many  elementary  schools  in  city  and 
country. 

In  great  cities  where  congestion,  ignorance  and  pov- 
erty formerly  levied  their  heaviest  toll,  it  has  become 
safer  for  a  baby  to  be  born  in  the  largest  city,  amidst 
crowded  surroundings,  than  to  be  born  in  country  dis- 
tricts or  on  farms  where  nature  has  done  her  best  to 
provide  a  safe  welcome.  The  city  mother  who  does 
not  yet  know  how  to  care  for  her  baby  and  herself  can 
find  an  infant  milk  station,  a  physician  and  a  nurse 
and  eager  mothers  asking  questions,  just  around  the 
corner.  If  she  is  so  uninformed  or  even  so  indifferent 
that  she  has  not  yet  realized  what  the  milk  station 
can  do  for  herself  and  her  baby,  or  so  obstinate  or 
prejudiced  or  lazy  that  she  is  unwilling  to  walk  around 
to  the  milk  station,  the  nurses  and  physicians  come  to 
her  and  they  come  not  once  and  not  twice,  but  they 
keep  coming  until  they  have  opened  her  heart  and  eyes 
to  her  baby's  need  and  her  own  possibilities.    ~~- 

To  reduce  the  number  of  mothers  who  begin  too 
late  their  special  training  for  parenthood,  cities  are 
beginning  to  provide  such  training  not  only  in  high 


204  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

schools,  but  in  elementary  grades.  Lessons  in  the  hy- 
giene of  baby  care  are  supplemented  by  actual  observa- 
tion of  the  routine  of  such  care  and  in  the  actual  giving 
of  the  care  itself,  such  as  weighing  babies,  comparing 
this  week's  progress  with  last  week's  progress,  bathing 
them,  dressing  them,  analysing  and  preparing  their 
food,  putting  them  to  sleep,  etc. 

Unfortunately  similar  training  for  children  in  rural 
districts  lags  behind  city  training  for  the  reason  that 
we  have  only  just  begun  to  see  how  neglectful  we  have 
been  of  rural  conditions.  Of  course  it  will  always 
be  hard  to  bring  rural  mothers  together.  Our  awaken- 
ing has  been  hastened  by  war-distress  discoveries  such 
as  that  the  ability  of  European  neutrals  to  live  and 
remain  neutral  and  the  ability  of  European  and  Ameri- 
can combatants  to  keep  on  fighting  each  for  his  con- 
ception of  liberty,  depends  less  upon  the  American 
banker  than  upon  the  American  farmer.  We  are  all 
seeing  now  what  only  a  few  educators  saw  before 
the  war,  that  we  cannot  permit  those  conditions  and 
practices  to  continue  which  Mr.  Dooley  characterized 
when  he  said :  "  Hinnesy  says  he  wants  to  go  to  the 
country  where  all  the  good  things  come  from,  and  I 
says  to  Hinnesy,  '  I'm  for  the  city  where  all  the  good 
things  come  to' "  Among  the  many  revolutions  tak- 
ing place  in  rural  life  and  rural  education  is  the  in- 
troduction of  everyday  practical  instruction  in  guar- 
anteeing baby  health  through  a  healthy  and  informed 


SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       205 

mother,  a  safe  and  wholesome  environment,  clean  air 
and  clean  food. 

There  are  seven  other  fields  in  which  training  is  now 
being  given  that  directly  fits  for  parenthood : 

(i)  Household  arts 

(2)  Household  accounts  and  family  budget  making 

(3)  Physical  training 

(4)  Recreation 

(5)  Character  analysis 

(6)  Sex  health 

(7)  Manners 

There  is  nothing  about  the  work  in  any  one  of  these 
fields  which  need  be  "  over  the  heads  "  of  any  parents. 
They  are  all  included  here  as  minimum  essentials  for 
the  efficient  citizen.  Shall  we  regard  even  domestic 
science  as  indispensable  for  boys  and  men?  To  know 
and  feel  that  a  practical  knowledge  of  domestic  science 
is  among  the  minimum  essentials  for  women  and  girls 
should  be  indispensable  for  men  and  boys.  The  ele- 
ments of  the  other  subjects  are  just  as  indispensable 
for  boys  as  for  girls.  Mrs.  Ella  Flagg  Young  insists 
that  boys  should  learn  to  cook  even  if  we  must  call  the 
course  "  camp  cookery "  in  order  to  make  it  seem 
masculine. 

Household  arts,  as  taught  quite  generally  now  in 
schools,  includes  cooking  and  other  housekeeping, 
dressmaking,  millinery  and  the  physical  care  of  the 


206  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

housekeeper.  To  make  this  instruction  real,  many  de- 
vices are  adopted.  Country  schools  serve  lunches  to 
be  eaten,  not  dabbed  at.  In  several  states  there  are 
teacherages  or  teachers'  homes  attached  to  the  rural 
school  for  purposes  that  include  instruction  in  domes- 
tic science,  gardening,  homemaking.  City  schools 
have  model  flats  which  different  groups  of  girls  in 
succession  take  care  of  for  a  week  or  a  fortnight,  and 
where  they  cook  real  meals,  really  scrub  real  floors, 
repaper  real  walls  with  real  paper  of  their  own  selec- 
tion, decorate  real  walls  with  real  pictures  they  have 
made  or  bought,  and  give  real  entertainments  to  real, 
invited  guests.  Expense  must  be  kept  within  the 
limit  which  the  families  of  the  neighbourhood  can 
afford.  Nor  is  this  instruction  just  play;  on  the  con- 
trary, in  cooking  and  sewing  and  in  housekeeping 
there  are  long  lists  of  definite  tasks  which  each  girl 
must  do  satisfactorily  before  she  is  marked  passed  in 
each  particular  accomplishment.  As  you  will  see  from 
the  accompanying  cards,  sewing  is  not  just  sewing,  but 
is  one  and  all  of  thirty-two  minimum  essential  factors 
in  knowing  how  to  sew.  Practical  homemaking  is 
not  just  keeping  house,  but  is  success  in  taking  more 
than  forty  separate  steps. 

For  bringing  home  and  school  closer  together,  and 
for  enhancing  the  dignity  of  homework,  this  prac- 
tical instruction  in  domestic  science  deserves  high 
rank  among  trainers  for  parenthood.     Schools  are  be- 


SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       207 


Sewing 

First  Year 

Minimum  essentials — checked 
when  done  proficiently 

Practice  in  turning  hems 

Basting  stitch 

Running      stitch 

Back  " 

Combination 

Hemming 

Overcasting 

Overhanding  " 

Catch  stitch 

French  fell 

Flat  fell 

Sewing  on  buttons 

Buttonholes 

Threading  machine 

Running 

Care   of 

Small  samples  on  machine 

One  full  sized  garment 


Second  Year 

Hem  patch 

Catch-stitch  patch 

Stocking  darn 

Dress  darn 

Sewing  on  hooks  and  eyes 

Chain  stitch 

Feather  stitch 

Smocking 

Tucks 

Scalloped  edge 

Simple  embroidery  stitches 

How  to  cut  a  true  bias 

How  to  use  a  pattern 

One  full  sized  garment 


Practical  Homemaking 

First  Year 

Minimum  essentials — checked 
when  done  proficiently 

Introductory    lesson 

Care   of   stove  ... 

Dishwashing       (care       of       kitchen 
utensils) 

Washing    of    towels    and    cleaning 
cloths 

Scrubbing  of  bare   wood 

Cleaning  of  garbage  can 

Cleaning   of   bed 

Making  of  bed 

Morning  cleaning  of  a  room 

Thorough  cleaning  of   a  room 

a)  washing  windows;  b)  clean- 
ing of  brass,  silver  and  nickel; 
c)  waxing  of  floor;  d)  washing 
of  floor 

Closet    cleaning    (windowbox    clean- 
ing) 

Table   setting   (table  etiquette) 

Preparation    and    serving    of    break- 
fast 

Preparation    and    serving    of   lunch- 
eon 

Plumbing    lesson     (tenement    house 
laws) 

a)  cleaning  of  sink;  b)  cleaning 
of  bathtub;  c)  cleaning  of  water 
closet;    d)  cleaning   of    washtub 

Disposal   of  garbage,  ashes  and  ref- 
use   (tenement  house  laws) 

Personal  hygiene 


Second  Year 

Laundry     equipment     (utensils     and 
materials) 

Removal  of  stains 

Laundry  washing 

a)  bed,  table  and  body  linen;  b) 
colored  clothes;  c)  underclothes; 
d)   towels;    e)  waists  and   dresses 

Making  of  starch 

Food  value  (combination  of  food) 

Making  of  daily  menus 

Weights   and   measures   and 
equivalents 

Care  of  patient  in  bed    (bathing) 

Changing  linen  with  patient  in  bed 

Diet   in   disease    (preparation   of   in- 
valid's  tray) 

Care    of    infants    (clothing   and 
bathing) 

Infant   feeding 

Food  for  children  1  to  5  years 


Elements  of  Efficiency  in  Household  Arts 


208  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

ginning  to  encourage  children  to  bring  supplies  in 
large  enough  quantities  so  that  food  for  home  meals 
and  clothes  for  home  use  can  be  made.  This  quickly 
vitalizes  the  work  of  teacher,  parent  and  pupil. 

In  Cleveland,  Ohio,  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  high 
school  girls  in  their  private  automobiles  going  to 
private  homes  where  for  pay  on  a  strictly  business 
basis  they  prepare  and  serve  a  meal,  perhaps  for  the 
family  only,  or  perhaps  for  family  and  guests.  It 
long  since  ceased  to  be  a  novelty  for  school  classes  in 
cooking  to  take  charge  of  school  lunch  rooms,  and 
while  learning  to  cook,  to  manage  a  considerable 
cafeteria  business  so  as  to  pay  all  expenses  and  now  and 
then  to  make  a  profit. 

Every  citizen,  in  country  as  well  as  in  city,  should 
want  this  work  done,  should  know  that  it  is  being 
done  quite  generally,  that  it  is  practical  everywhere, 
that  it  adds  to  children's  interest  in  and  benefit  from 
other  school  subjects,  and  "  elevates  homemaking  from 
drudgery  to  dignity "  in  the  eyes  of  children  and 
parents  alike. 

Household  accounts  and  home  budget  making! 
What  part,  pray,  can  they  play  in  specialized  training 
for  parenthood?  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  no 
one  can  be  an  efficient  parent  who  does  not  know  where 
the  money  goes  and  who  does  not  plan  in  advance  how 
the  family  income  shall  be  distributed.     I  do  feel  safe 


SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       200, 

in  asserting  that  other  things  being  equal,  the  mother 
who  records  and  budgets  her  income  and  expenses 
will  use  her  affection,  her  vision,  and  her  energy  more 
economically  and  more  idealistically  than  if  she  tries 
to  get  along  without  the  aid  of  household  accounts 
and  family  budgets. 

Some  years  ago  an  able  woman  teacher  of  women, 
Mrs.  Ellen  Richards,  wrote  a  book  entitled,  The 
Cost  of  Living,  in  which  she  showed  that  nearly  one- 
half  of  all  family  incomes  is  wasted.  This  is  an  ex- 
treme assertion.  It  may  be  that  only  one- fourth,  in- 
stead of  one-half,  is  wasted.  The  point  for  the  effi- 
cient citizen  to  reflect  upon  is  that  by  and  large  we  do 
not  make  our  incomes  buy  for  us  anything  like  the 
comforts  and  luxuries  which  they  would  buy  if  we 
planned  and  spent  more  wisely. 

Over  fifty  million  bushels  of  wheat  —  ten  bushels 
for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  New  York  City  — 
is  as  stale  bread  fed  every  year  to  chickens!  Why? 
Because  homekeepers  will  accept  from  bread  dealers 
none  but  fresh  bread  just  out  of  the  oven.  In  order 
to  have  fresh  bread  at  each  meal,  parents  buy  bread 
many  times  a  day  instead  of  buying  a  day's  supply  in 
advance.  When  bread  is  bought  in  small  quantities, 
in  fewer  loaves,  smaller  loaves,  and  in  rolls,  it  costs 
more.  Then  the  habit  of  using  only  fresh  bread 
means  that  a  slight  miscalculation,  due  to  sickness  or 


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SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       211 

absence  of  breadeaters,  causes  the  homekeeper  to  throw 
this  stale  bread  into  the  garbage  can  in  spite  of  its 
wholesomeness  and  palatability. 

War  dangers  have  compelled  and  enabled  us  to  see 
the  significance  of  bread  waste.  But  there  are  many 
other  household  wastes  equally  as  important.  The 
difference  between  prompt  darning  of  stockings  and 
tardy  darning  is  a  pair  of  stockings.  The  housewife 
who  is  capable  with  the  needle  and  prompt  and  tasteful 
in  her  mending  and  repairing  can  with  the  proverbial 
stitch  in  time  that  saves  nine  first  reduce  the  cost  of 
clothes,  second  improve  their  appearance,  and  third 
prolong  their  life.  Similar  homely  illustrations  will 
occur  to  the  reader  in  the  use  of  gasolene  or  coal  for 
heating,  in  the  use  of  family  lights,  in  the  use  of  labour. 
No  one  but  the  family  which  keeps  a  record  of  where 
its  money  goes  can  easily  enough  look  for,  detect  and 
stop  the  leakages  or  easily  enough  plan  next  year's 
expenditures  so  that  this  year's  mistakes  will  not  be 
repeated. 

A  simple  method  of  keeping  account  of  money  spent 
is  included  herewith;  it  has  been  used  fifteen  years  in 
one  family.  Young  children  trained  to  analyse  in  this 
way  the  sources  and  uses  of  income  will  by  second 
nature  find  it  easy  and  natural  to  weigh  innumerable 
other  alternatives  for  use  of  family  time  and  family 
opportunity.  This  thinking  and  planning  ahead  and 
together  is  a  basic  factor  in  successful  parenthood. 


212  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

Home  budgeting  differs  from  home  accounting  in 
that  our  accounts  are  records  of  money  which  we  have 
already  spent  and  show  for  what  purposes  and  at  what 
times  it  was  spent.  A  budget  is  a  program  for  spend- 
ing which  should  also  be  a  program  for  saving.  It 
is  a  plan  made  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  for  guid- 
ing the  family  in  the  use  of  its  income. 

For  example,  if  for  an  income  of  $2500  it  is  felt  that 
22  per  cent,  is  the  maximum  which  can  be  paid  for 
food,  20  per  cent,  the  maximum  which  can  be  paid  for 
shelter,  and  14  per  cent,  the  maximum  that  can  be  paid 
for  clothing,  these  limits  must  be  kept  in  mind  when 
deciding  what  to  buy  for  next  Sunday's  dinner,  how 
much  to  pay  for  rent  and  how  much  to  pay  for  new 
clothes. 

Only  a  very  small  percentage  of  families  actually 
use  the  budget  method  except  in  a  very  rough  way. 
Yet  without  knowing  just  how  they  reach  these  con- 
clusions families  have  learned  that  they  cannot  pay 
more  than  $18  a  month  or  $1800  a  month  for  rent 
and  still  have  enough  left  to  buy  the  other  things  which 
they  know  they  will  want.  Even  if  a  person  knows 
that  he  will  be  extravagant  when  opportunity  arises, 
a  budget  or  money  spending  plan  will  help  him  see 
at  what  point  he  ought  to  retrench  in  order  to  make 
up  for  his  extravagance. 

No  family  budget  is  helpful  enough  or  complete 
enough  which  does  not  provide  for  two  or  three  kinds 


SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       213 

of  expenditure  which  are  not  found  in  most  printed 
budget  suggestions.  Without  an  exception  every  fam- 
ily needs  to  set  aside  money  every  year  for  visits  to 
the  dentist.  Moreover  while  each  of  us  ought  to  do 
everything  we  know  how  to  make  visits  to  a  physician 
unnecessary,  no  family  has  the  right  to  plan  a  spend- 
ing program  for  the  year  which  reserves  nothing  for 
sickness,  or  for  visits  to  a  Christian  Science  healer. 
Another  helpful  account  which  ought  also  to  be  con- 
sidered in  the  family  budget  is  entertainment.  Very 
few  families  go  through  a  year  without  receiving  hos- 
pitality and  without  extending  it.  For  want  of  records 
to  show  how  large  this  item  is  and  for  want  of  a 
budget  plan  in  advance  to  see  how  much  can  be  af- 
forded for  this  purpose  and  recreation,  many  families 
are  constantly  spending  what  they  cannot  afford  for 
entertainment  and  then  having  to  go  without  other 
necessities  of  life. 

Any  one  who  has  the  habit  of  putting  down  the  pur- 
pose for  which  family  funds  are  spent  and  the  other 
habit  of  considering  a  year's  or  half  year's  require- 
ments in  advance  and  determining  how  much  of  one's 
spending  power  shall  be  devoted  to  each  purpose,  has 
learned  lessons  of  the  greatest  importance  to  public 
service. 

Proper  physical  training  for  the  individual  is  a 
high  type  of  specialized  training  for  parenthood.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  vastly  easier  for  the  physically 


214  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

normal  and  vital  person  to  have  normal,  wholesome, 
patriotic  ideals  of  parenthood.  To  state  the  same 
thought  in  a  different  way,  it  is  extremely  difficult, 
and  oftentimes  impossible,  for  persons  who  are  not 
physically  sound  and  physically  possessed  of  the  joy 
of  living  to  think  of  parenthood  in  a  way  that  for 
child  or  parent  or  country  is  good.  Between  the  two 
extremes  of  bounding  physical  vitality  and  physical 
weakness,  sickness  or  lassitude  are  many  stages  and 
kinds  of  physical  unpreparedness,  many  of  which  obvi- 
ously affect  parenthood. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  physical  soundness  is  but 
a  beginning.  A  man  may  be  physically  sound  and 
still  want  to  be  a  prize  fighter  or  burglar  or  swindler 
or  usurer  or  other  self-centred,  anti-social  person.  A 
woman  may  be  physically  sound  and  yet  deliberately 
choose  a  path  that  can  mean  only  wretchedness  for 
herself  and  all  who  know  her.  If  science  and  history 
have  proved  anything,  however,  it  is  that  the  chances 
are  that  the  right  attitude  toward  one's  neighbour  and 
one's  home  is  far  easier  to  maintain  when  one  is 
physically  sound  than  when  one  is  not  physically 
sound. 

These  days  physical  training  includes  many  other 
things  beside  just  health  fulness  or  soundness.  A  per- 
son may  be  sound  physically  and  still  walk  awkwardly, 
look  with  a  shifty  eye,  sit  with  stooped  shoulders,  or 
dislike  the  very  thought  of  parenthood.     In  addition 


SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       21 5 

to  soundness,  physical  training  aims  to  give  physical 
grace,  joy  in  physical  cleanliness,  and  zest  for  out- 
door air  and  for  physical  exercise. 

Tremendous  headway  has  been  made  during  the  last 
decade  in  universalizing  physical  training  for  school 
children.  Teaching  children  how  to  live  has  been 
supplemented  by  having  children  live  the  way  they 
ought  to  live  in  school,  on  the  playground  and  at  home. 
Keeping  home  windows  open  at  night,  brushing  teeth 
at  home,  participating  in  school  games,  are  all  part 
of  the  modern  school's  method  of  physical  training. 
What  the  minimum  essentials  for  physical  training  at 
school  are  can  be  learned  from  any  state  department  of 
education  or  from  the  National  Bureau  of  Education. 
The  individual  reader  has  done  his  part  when  he  finds 
out  whether  his  local  school  is  giving  this  minimum 
of  instruction,  and  when  he  co-operates  with  school 
and  neighbours  to  see  that  all  children  receive  and 
practise  such  instruction.  The  suggestions  from 
High  Spots  in  New  York  Schools,  on  pages  72  and  73, 
will  suggest  helpful  questions  that  may  be  asked  about 
any  public,  parochial  and  private  schools. 

Whatever  is  not  accomplished  through  physical 
training  before  children  leave  school  will  generally  be 
accomplished  only  through  recreation.  Few  adults 
will  take  up  physical  training  for  its  own  sake  or  even 
for  clearly  understood  advantages  to  possible  children. 
Few  communities  are  yet  organized  so  that  adults  can 


2l6  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

take  physical  exercise  or  physical  training  in  any 
form  at  such  times  and  in  such  instalments  as  are 
reasonably  easy  and  agreeable.  That  is  another  rea- 
son for  extending  and  emphasizing  public  facilities  for 
recreation. 

Recreation  plays  such  an  important  role  in  training 
for  parenthood  that  it  is  almost  more  important  than 
all  the  other  elements  combined.  Here  again,  schools 
have  made  enormous  strides  in  helping  the  coun- 
try provide  this  specialized  training  for  parenthood. 
Again  also,  it  is  necessary  to  add  to  the  reasons  here- 
tofore urged  for  recreation  the  special  reason  that  upon 
parents'  recreation  depends  largely  children's  prepara- 
tion for  citizenship.  Today  it  is  not  necessary  to  talk 
eternally  about  the  advantages  which  we  as  adults 
enjoy  because  when  children  we  had  training  in  recrea- 
tion. In  order  to  get  money  enough,  however,  to 
equip  our  schools  and  cities  and  country  districts  for 
proper  and  adequate  recreation,  and  in  order  to  secure 
the  moral  backing  for  the  kind  of  public  supervision 
over  recreation  that  is  needed,  it  is  necessary  to  see 
the  future  family  bearings  of  today's  recreation. 

The  term  recreation  as  we  are  now  using  it  is  far 
broader  than  physical  exercise  or  games.  It  refers 
to  the  numberless  activities  and  interests  which  Dr. 
Richard  C.  Cabot  calls  "  re-creation,"  which  some  of 
us  call  rest,  others  call  fun,  and  others  are  satisfied 
to  call  change.     In  the  disposal  of  that  part  of  our 


SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       21 J 

energies  and  interests  that  parents  do  not  need  for 
routine  duties  of  earning  a  living  and  keeping  house, 
there  is  dire  need  for  specialized  instruction.  It  is 
because  we  cannot  safely  wait  until  parenthood  is 
imminent  for  the  beginnings  of  this  instruction  that 
it  is  important  to  keep  the  need  for  it  in  mind  when 
training  children  and  youth. 

No  good  will  result  from  blaming  parents  for  not 
doing  what  they  have  never  seen  the  importance  of 
doing  before  they  actually  become  parents.  It  is  not 
so  much  what  parents  do  which  determines  the  suc- 
cess of  their  parenthood  as  what  they  are.  If  a  girl 
has  not  learned  to  enjoy  reading  before  she  becomes 
a  mother,  she  will  seldom  come  to  enjoy  reading  after 
she  has  become  a  mother  and  during  the  trying  months 
of  preparation  for  motherhood.  Yet  any  mother  who 
does  not  enjoy  reading  and  who  does  not  do  it  so  well 
that  it  becomes  infectious  in  her  family  will  fall  far 
short  in  service  to  her  children.  The  young  married 
woman  whose  published  diary  stated  that  the  ideal 
week  for  a  married  couple  included  "two  nights  at 
bridge,  one  at  dances,  one  at  the  theatre,"  had  never 
learned  to  associate  reading  and  thinking  with  en- 
tertainment or  to  find  recreation  in  the  beautiful  every- 
day things,  the  tradesman's  friendliness,  the  editor's 
poetry,  the  neighbour's  pansy  bed,  the  street  cleaner's 
pride  in  his  work,  a  child's  eager  love,  one's  own  task 
well  done.     Any  man  who  has  not  at  the  time  of  be- 


2l8  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

coming  a  father  acquired  habits  of  punctuality,  frugal- 
ity, self-control,  consideration,  providence,  and  team 
spirit  in  recreation,  will  seldom  acquire  these  habits 
even  under  the  social  and  financial  pressure  incident 
to  parenthood. 

For  the  greater  part  of  prepared  humanity  reading 
will  always  be  the  chief  form  of  recreation.  In  no 
other  way  can  we  obtain  so  many  pleasurable  sensa- 
tions from  the  odds  and  ends  of  time  which  most  of 
us  can  give  to  recreation.  The  very  men  and  women 
who  now  feel  so  dependent  upon  card  playing,  dances, 
moving  pictures  and  restaurants  that  have  music, 
dramatics  and  dancing,  are  often  only  victims  of  bad 
training  which  did  not  include  the  important  feature 
of  enjoying  books  and  reading  aloud.  It  is  not  hav- 
ing been  taught  the  enjoyments  of  reading  rather  than 
passion  for  cheap  excitement  that  led  a  stenographer 
to  say  to  me  once,  "  A  girl  can't  work  all  the  time.  .  .  . 
I  rarely  go  out  more  than  two  or  three  times  a  week, 
besides  Saturday  and  Sunday." 

This  is  a  more  important  habit  for  parents  to  ac- 
quire than  another  habit  which  is  being  overdone  in 
advice  to  parents,  namely,  that  of  "  chumming  "  with 
their  children.  No  matter  what  parents  do,  children 
will  not,  if  they  think  straight,  fail  to  distinguish  be- 
tween their  own  maturity  and  that  of  their  parents. 
It  is  infinitely  better  for  parents  to  give  children  a 
demonstration  of  enjoying  books  and  pleasures  suit- 


SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       2IO, 

able  to  parents'  ages  than  to  try  to  fool  either  them- 
selves or  their  children  by  pretending  to  enjoy  pleas- 
ures that  are  peculiar  to  children.  Fortunately  there 
are  many  pleasures  just  as  suitable  to  grandparents 
and  parents  as  to  children.  Among  them  are  reading 
and  conversation,  two  arts  essential  to  efficient  parent- 
hood, which  are  however  dependent  for  their  success 
upon  home  training  and  school  training  long  before  the 
age  of  parenthood. 

Character  analysis  is  listed  among  the  minimum 
essential  requirements  of  parenthood  because  a  great 
part  of  family  unhappiness  is  due  to  the  failure  of 
parents  to  think  of  character  as  a  bundle  of  distinct 
traits  that  need  to  be  separately  studied  rather  than  as 
an  unchangeable  composite.  Prospective  parents  need 
training  in  character  analysis  during  their  school  days 
when  selecting  friends  in  life  and  in  books,  when 
listening  to  teachers,  and  when  wondering  about  their 
own  difficulties  and  successes.  Later  they  need  train- 
ing in  character  analysis  when  listening  to  one  an- 
other's plans,  promises,  requests  and  petitions  for 
the  future  before  becoming  parents.  Finally  after 
they  are  parents,  they  desperately  and  continuously 
need  the  habit  of  breaking  up  children's  character 
into  the  elements  of  which  it  is  made. 

What  is  becoming  an  everyday  practice  among 
school  teachers  can  easily  become  an  everyday  prac- 
tice among  parents.     It  is  possible  for  parents  as  well 


220  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

as  teachers  to  treat  children's  disobedience,  not  by 
punishing  the  children,  and  ignoring  the  causes  of  the 
disobedience,  but  by  asking  what  causes  the  disobedi- 
ence. In  one  case  the  answer  will  be  misunderstand- 
ing ;  in  another  case  the  child  does  not  hear ;  in  another 
case  the  parent  has  invited  the  disobedience  by  her  own 
previous  conduct  toward  the  child.  Whether  the  cause 
is  lack  of  understanding,  failure  to  hear,  or  parental 
mistake,  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  in  how 
the  child's  difficulty  is  to  be  cured. 

Few  parents  are  willing  to  regulate  their  daily  rela- 
tions with  their  children  by  scientific  rules  of  char- 
acter analysis.  Few  readers  of  this  chapter  will  want 
to  copy  the  personality  chart  here  reproduced.  Many 
other  parents,  however,  by  looking  this  chart  over 
will  see  how  their  dealings  with  children  and  with 
one  another  will  be  very  much  helped  if  they  will  stop 
to  ask  to  which  of  several  possible  causes  tomorrow's 
difficulties  of  discipline  or  instruction  or  of  team 
work  are  due. 

In  the  Held  of  sex  health  the  impossible  has  hap- 
pened ;  schools  and  colleges  are  finding  how  to  teach  the 
essential  laws  of  sex  health  without  giving  offence 
or  fostering  sex  morbidness.  There  will  always  be 
question  in  the  minds  of  parents  as  to  the  advisabil-  ' 
ity  of  trying  to  teach  in  mixed  classes  those  aspects 
of  sex  hygiene  which  have  to  do  with  sex  morbidity, 
sex  evil,  and  sex  disease.     Experience  shows  however 


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222  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

that  positive  health  sides  of  sex  hygiene  can  be  dis- 
cussed in  mixed  audiences  and  in  mixed  classes. 
Where  possible,  schools  prefer  to  give  instruction  to 
sexes  separately  because  the  two  sexes  are  different 
in  their  susceptibility  to  illustration.  High  schools 
have  their  women  preceptresses  or  monitors  or  chap- 
erons or  advisers  or  deans.  Physical  directors  are 
finding  it  easy  to  impart  whatever  knowledge  is  needed 
in  connection  with  physical  training. 

What  parents  need  most  is  not  a  method  of  teach- 
ing facts  of  sex  hygiene  to  children  but  parental  char- 
acter and  social  habits  which  children  will  want  to 
imitate.  Parents  who  do  not  understand  other  matters 
than  sex  cannot  make  much  headway  trying  to  talk 
about  sex  with  their  children.  Young  people  who 
lack  training  for  group  enjoyment,  for  wholesale 
amusement,  for  physical  soundness,  for  the  team  work 
of  family  co-operation  offer  little  toward  family  hap- 
piness if  they  merely  offer  conventional  training  in 
sex. 

No  book  training  or  lecture  training  in  sex  health 
can  possibly  be  so  efficacious  as  social  training  in  hav- 
ing a  good  time  with  wholesome  decent  happy  people. 
That  is  another  reason  for  accentuating  the  impor- 
tance of  training  parents  for  recreation.  Because  a 
great  part  of  recreation  during  certain  periods  of  the 
year  is  in  the  water  or  on  the  water,  on  or  about  the 
ballfield  or  tennis  ground,  or  perhaps  even  around  a 


SPECIALIZED    TRAINING    FOR    PARENTHOOD        223 

card  table  or  dancing  floor,  it  is  important  that  young 
people  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  be  trained  in  the 
art  of  helping  friends  and  associates  have  a  good  time. 
Because  a  great  part  of  the  world  must  start  in  this 
program  under  conditions  where  there  is  too  little 
opportunity  for  developing  personal  relations  after  or 
before  or  between  working  hours,  because  too  many 
of  us  still  work  without  vacations  and  work  so  hard 
by  day  that  we  can  only  sleep  at  night,  or  work  so 
hard  by  night  that  we  can  only  sleep  by  day,  it  is 
indispensable  that  we  all  be  trained  to  find  recreation 
and  training  in  normal  sex  relations  in  the  course  of 
our  regular  employment.  Conversational  ability  when 
it  is  confined  to  the  parlour  and  parlour  occasions 
neither  gives  nor  gains  much  happiness.  The  play 
spirit  that  is  limited  to  leisure  hours  is  but  a  half  grown 
play  spirit.  Many  parents  affect  their  children  more 
by  the  way  they  work  than  by  the  way  they  play; 
therefore,  the  importance  of  training  parents  to  be 
examples  to  children  in  the  spirit  of  working. 

Manners  is  a  word  that  means  many  different  things 
to  different  people.  One  would  hesitate  to  count  man- 
ners among  the  minimum  essentials  needed  in  special- 
ized training  for  parenthood  had  not  so  keen  an  ob- 
server as  Dr.  Richard  C.  Cabot  declared  unequivocally 
that  in  personal  relations,  that  is  in  manners  and  affec- 
tion, we  Americans  are  bunglers.  We  bungle,  not 
merely  in  our  actions,  but  in  our  feelings.     If  we 


224  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

bungled  only  in  the  more  formal  personal  relations,  it 
would  not  be  so  serious,  but  we  bungle  in  the  infinite 
number  of  little  feelings  which  form  the  solid  founda- 
tions, steel  girders  and  stone  walls  of  our  character. 
That  it  is  not  our  fault,  or  that  it  can  all  be  easily 
accounted  for,  is  less  significant  and  less  helpful  to 
us  than  to  realize  our  lack  and  to  set  about  correcting 
it.  Certain  it  is  that  any  young  people  who  have  not 
developed  manners  and  habits  of  thought  fulness,  pa- 
tience, consideration,  fundamental  kindness,  before 
they  become  parents  will  seldom  develop  them  after- 
wards. If  they  are  ever  to  have  them,  and  they  must, 
we  all  of  us  must  be  thinking  of  these  minimum  essen- 
tials years  before,  While  boys  and  girls  are  growing 
up. 

Making  an  art  of  personal  relations  was  one  of  the 
main  duties  and  attractions  of  the  old  time  seminary 
for  girls  and  select  private  schools  for  boys.  Convent 
teachers  have  always  regarded  the  arts  of  homemak- 
ing  and  of  personal  conduct  more  important  than  the 
three  R's  or  academic  embellishments.  Until  recently 
our  small  colleges  prided  themselves  upon  the  train- 
ing they  were  giving  in  personal  relations.  Of  late 
there  has  been  a  tendency  among  the  private  schools 
and  colleges  to  subordinate  personal  relations  to  society 
manners  and  the  brusqueness  of  athletic  field  and 
magazine  slang.  From  another  direction  as  if  in  self- 
defence,  has  started  a  conservation  movement  which 


SPECIALIZED   TRAINING   FOR   PARENTHOOD       225 

Automatic  Good  Manners 

Automatic  courtesy:  toward  elders  and  visitors  is  taught  de- 
fectives— and  non-defectives  too 

To  the  "stranger  within  the  school":  pupils  hold  themselves 
responsible  for  help  and  courtesy 

Social  functions:  initiated  clubs  for  learning  polite  usage  and 
behavior,  as  at  afternoon  teas  in  model  flats,  receptions 
to  alumnae  twice  a  year 

Above  college  men  and  women:  in  social  opportunity  and  at- 
tainment, in  politeness  and  automatic  "good  form" — pupils 
of  several  elementary  and  high  schools 

Good  Manners  Club:  in  congested  district.  At  close  of  reg- 
ular school  day,  with  practically  all  girls  (no  boys  in  this 
class)  remaining  in  their  seats  one  girl  went  to  desk  and 
called  to  order  the  Good  Manners  Club.  Secretary  read 
minutes  of  last  regular  meeting,  revealing  fact  that  "chiv- 
alry" had  been  topic  discussed.  After  a  slight  correction 
of  minutes,  program  of  the  day  went  forward.  "The  way 
you  eat,  speak,  etc.,  is  part  of  your  manners,  so  everybody 
has  some  kind  of  manners" — one  girl's  definition.  An- 
other girl  enumerated  kinds  of  bad  manners: 

pig  manners 
bear 

donkey  " 

cow-in-the-parlor  manners 
rooster  manners 
interrupter  " 

Several  girls  designed  and  illustrated  each  variety.  Chair- 
man announced  that  the  subject  for  next  week  would  be 
how  to  use  one's  voice.     Adjourned. 


Teaching  via  Practicing  Manners  in  New  York  Schools 


226  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

aims  to  give  training  from  the  early  kindergarten  days 
through  the  high  school  in  ethics  as  expressed  through 
personal  relations.  The  accompanying  poster  and 
"  high  spots "  show  New  York  City's  beginnings. 
California's  commissioner  of  education  for  elementary 
schools  has  issued  a  pamphlet  on  manners  which  is  a 
syllabus  of  instruction  for  a  several  years'  course  of 
training  in  personal  relations.  It  is  illustrated  by 
story  and  by  photograph.  It  is  addressed  to  pupils, 
teachers  and  county  superintendents.  Will  every  state 
follow  California's  example  by  ranking  the  habit  of 
courtesy  among  the  minimum  essentials  which  public 
school  training  will  require  and  guarantee? 

Two  stories  told  to  California's  children  of  country 
and  city  show  how  manners  and  patriotism  have  a 
fundamental  cousinship : 

A  foreign  minister  once  observed  Thomas  Jefferson 
lift  his  hat  in  response  to  an  old  negro  who  had  bowed 
to  him  as  he  passed.  "  I  am  surprised,  Mr.  President," 
said  the  minister,  "  that  you  take  off  your  hat  to  a  slave." 
"  Why,"  replied  Jefferson,  "  I  would  not  like  to  have  a 
slave  more  polite  than  I  am." 

An  American  sailor  landing  in  England  shortly  after 
the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  took  a  first-class 
seat  in  a  stage  coach,  but  was  told  to  get  out,  as  such 
seats  were  reserved  for  gentlemen.  "  I  am  a  gentleman," 
said  the  sailor.  "  Who  made  gentlemen  out  of  fellows 
like  you  ?  "  asked  the  coach  guard.  "  George  Washing- 
ton," said  the  sailor ;  and  he  kept  his  seat. 


Wadleigh  High  School  Girls 


SPECIALIZED    TRAINING    FOR    PARENTHOOD        227 

By  that  human  perversity  which  so  often  reflects  a 
demand  of  nature  we  find  training  in  personal  rela- 
tions in  the  schools  of  congested  poverty  stricken  dis- 
tricts at  the  very  time  when  high  priced,  presumably 
select  private  schools  are  relaxing  their  interest  in  such 
training.  On  pages  97,  226  and  22J  are  printed 
three  exhibits  from  High  Spots  in  New  York  Schools 
which  illustrate  what  is  meant  in  this  chapter  by  train- 
ing in  manners  for  parenthood.  I  recently  saw  this 
same  training  democratically  at  work  in  the  schools  at 
Mt.  Vernon  and,  I  am  glad  to  say,  in  a  course  called 
civics.  They  were  seventh  grade  children.  They 
came  from  homes  of  different  incomes.  Instead  of 
discussing  the  three  branches  of  our  government,  ex- 
ecutive, legislative  and  administrative,  instead  of  de- 
scribing the  electoral  college,  the  difference  between 
township  and  county  units  of  government,  these  chil- 
dren were  having  civics  via  class  discussion  of  man- 
ners. 

The  teacher  had  written  several  questions  on  the 
board,  which  the  children  had  copied  in  their  books 
for  later  comment;  they  were  now  orally  exchanging 
views  and  experiences.  I  asked  how  many  liked  that 
study ;  all  raised  their  hands.  When  asked  how  many 
liked  it  better  than  geography  or  arithmetic,  almost 
all  again  raised  their  hands.  When  asked  why,  they 
said  that  it  gave  them  so  much  to  talk  about  in  class 
and  to  think  about  after  class.     When  asked  if  their 


228  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

mothers  liked  this  course,  almost  all  nodded  their 
heads.  When  asked  for  proof  that  this  course  had 
actually  changed  their  habits,  they  gave  quickly  one 
illustration  after  another.  A  little  girl  who  looked 
as  if  she  was  born  with  a  manner  book  in  her  mouth 
said  that  before  she  had  had  this  course  she  had  al- 
ways run  to  meals;  now  she  waits  for  her  elders  to 
go  first.  A  big  boy  stopped  drinking  soup  from  the 
end  of  his  spoon  because  in  sound  and  look  it  was 
unpleasant  to  other  people.  They  accounted  for  their 
responsiveness  to  suggestions  in  class  and  their  former 
unresponsiveness  to  their  parents'  instruction  by  say- 
ing that  when  they  talk  over  these  things  in  class 
among  children  of  their  own  age,  they  somehow  gain 
a  feeling  for  proper  personal  relations  and  polite  con- 
duct which  they  cannot  gain  when  told  as  a  matter  of 
advice  or  discipline  by  their  parents. 

The  fundamental  idea  of  the  manysided  specialized 
training  for  parenthood  which  is  here  suggested  is 
that  parents  must  possess  before  they  can  impart. 
They  must  represent  the  conservation  of  qualities  be- 
fore they  can  conserve  qualities  in  children.  If  they 
lack  conversational  ability,  they  will  find  it  almost  im- 
possible to  do  their  part  in  developing  children's  con- 
versational ability.  Such  character  deficiencies  as  they 
exhibit  to  their  children,  they  will  find  it  difficult  to 
correct  in  children,  except  as  those  deficiencies  are  so 
glaring  as  to  exert  an  inhibiting,  repelling  influence. 


SPECIALIZED    TRAINING    FOR    PARENTHOOD       229 

If  they  never  play,  if  they  are  not  seen  at  wholesome 
recreation,  their  influence  will  not  foster  instinct  of 
play  and  wholesome  recreation  within  their  children. 
If  they  have  never  learned  to  enjoy  good  reading, 
their  advice  to  their  children  about  good  reading  will 
be  of  little  avail.  If  they  neglect  to  write  letters  of 
thanks  or  appreciation  when  they  have  received  cour- 
tesies or  presents,  their  advising  or  nagging  children 
to  make  proper  acknowledgments  will  be  ineffective. 
In  all  thinking,  however,  about  preliminary  training 
of  parents,  we  must  draw  a  line  between  those  who  had 
opportunities  and  neglected  them,  and  others  whose 
deficiencies  are  due  to  never  having  had  opportunities. 
The  existence  of  this  line  accounts  for  the  astounding 
teachability  of  the  immigrant  and  of  others  who  have 
suffered  deprivation.  Where  starvation  is  there  also 
we  generally  find  appetite.  It  cannot  therefore  be 
assumed  that  because  a  mother  or  a  father  has  here- 
tofore neglected  the  duties  of  parenthood  he  or  she 
has  deliberately  closed  mind  and  heart  to  those  oppor- 
tunities. In  every  community  it  remains  worth  while 
to  state  over  and  over  again  clearly  from  pulpit,  school 
platform,  and  editorial  page  the  minimum  standards 
of  preparation  and  conduct  for  the  American  parent. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

TRAINING   OF    THE   SPECIALLY    GIFTED 

Civilization,  ^conserved  by  similarities ;  iUprogresses 
by  differences.  It  is  equality  of  opportunity,  not 
identity  of  opportunity  or  of  possession  which  Democ- 
racy seeks.  The  main  purpose  of  Democracy  is  to 
establish  a  minimum  of  training  for  citizenship  and 
service  which  no  citizen  shall  lack  who  is  mentally 
capable  of  such  training;  then  to  encourage  as  many 
differences  as  possible  beyond  and  above  that  mini- 
mum; to  fix  a  new  and  higher  minimum;  encourage 
new  departures  beyond  and  above  the  newest  mini- 
mum; set  a  new  stake;  call  a  new  marathon  of  effort; 
and  so  on,  ad  infinitum. 

Military  conscription  has  helped  because  it  has 
dramatically  recognized  differences  of  capacity  within 
equality  of  obligation  and  of  honour.  Without  dis- 
paragement, we  are  recognizing  differences  between 
married  men  and  unmarried  men,  among  married  men, 
among  unmarried  men.  More  frankly  than  ever  be- 
fore we  are  abolishing  some  differences  between  men 
and  women,  while  at  the  same  time  with  women's  con- 

230 


TRAINING    OF   THE    SPECIALLY    GIFTED  23 1 

sent  we  are  drawing  more  rigidly  than  ever  before 
certain  other  lines  between  women  and  men. 

By  limiting  our  first  conscription  to  unmarried  men, 
we  are  recognizing  that  whether  a  man  is  married  or 
not,  and  whether  or  not  he  is  a  parent,  makes  several 
differences  in  his  relation  to  society,  in  his  ability  to 
serve  without  hurting  society,  and  in  society's  right 
to  accept  his  service.  Among  unmarried  men  we  have 
again  recognized  the  differences  between  those  who 
have  persons  dependent  upon  them  and  those  who  have 
not.  Numerous  other  lines  are  being  drawn.  The 
single  man  on  the  farm  is  told  that  he  can  serve  best 
by  growing  food.  The  single  man  in  industry  is  told 
that  keeping  our  armies  and  allies  supplied  with  muni- 
tions and  our  industrial  armies  supplied  with  the 
minimum  essentials  of  their  activity  is  just  as  high  a 
form  of  patriotism  and  is  just  as  essential  to  efficient 
military  service  as  is  carrying  a  gun  in  the  field.  In 
distributing  tasks  among  conscripted  men  we  have 
profited  from  the  early  mistakes  of  European  nations 
by  recognizing  the  important  differences  in  the  load 
that  can  be  carried  by  engineers,  carpenters,  doctors, 
lawyers,  clerks,  musicians,  telegraphers. 

Recognition  of  special  gifts  has  thus  official  and 
patriotic  sanction.  Throughout  our  early  war  prepara- 
tions we  have  been  insisting  that  differences  are  in 
special  aptitudes  or  in  immediate  preparedness,  and 
not  in  worth  or  in  patriotism.     Moreover,  we  have 


032  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

recognized  that  no  one  needs  training  more  than  do 
the  specially  gifted ;  our  very  first  military  camps  were 
for  surgeons  and  officers.  "  Every  man  to  his  last " 
is  the  principle  employed. 

Equal  opportunity  for  every  man  to  discover  his 
last  and  the  obligation  of  every  man  to  find  his  place 
and  his  responsibility  according  to  his  last,  are  two 
companion  principles  which  must  include  the  specially 
gifted  as  well  as  the  normally  and  sub-normally 
gifted.  "  What  we  know  we  owe  " —  what  we  own 
we  owe,  what  we  can  we  owe,  and  we  owe  it  too  in 
proportion  to  our  special  ability. 

In  peace  times  special  gifts  are  recognized  in  many 
different  ways,  but  seldom,  as  yet,  in  our  training  for 
citizenship.  Often  special  gifts,  for  want  of  develop- 
ment and  understanding  are  actual  disqualifications. 
A  special  gift  for  music  in  small  towns  is  apt  to  be  a 
handicap  which  interferes  with  school  work  and  wage 
earning  without  producing  recognizable  benefits;  so, 
too,  the  person  who  has  a  special  gift  for  drawing 
is  apt  to  be  considered  a  misfit  in  the  country;  there 
are  certain  gifts  of  temperament  which  fit  badly  into 
the  systematic  routine  of  business  or  housekeeping. 

Schools  are  trying  as  never  before  to  detect  special 
aptitudes  or  gifts  and  to  help  boys  and  girls  develop 
along  the  lines  of  their  major  capacities  and  dominant 
interests.  But  it  is  not  of  this  vocational  guidance 
that   the   present  chapter   treats.     We  are   interested 


TRAINING   OF   THE    SPECIALLY    GIFTED  233 

rather  in  the  training  of  the  specially  gifted,  not  for 
the  development  of  their  gifts  but  for  the  use  of 
their  gifts  for  citizenship  and  public  service.  Ex- 
cept for  one  or  two  illustrations  of  ways  in  which 
the  world  is  now  undertaking  to  discover  and  develop 
special  gifts,  we  shall  confine  our  discussion  to  ways 
in  which  those  who  possess  special  gifts  of  whatever 
kind,  may  be  led  to  recognize  a  special  and  commen- 
surate obligation  to*use  those  gifts  in  the  public  interest. 

Offering  prizes  is  one  of  the  world's  devices  for 
uncovering  special  ability.  'While  true  that  the  pur- 
pose of  most  prizes  is  to  stimulate  special  effort  by 
those  who  are  not  specially  gifted,  it  is  also  true  that 
special  aptitude  is  widely  encouraged  by  prize  offers, 
simple  and  rich,  from  the  country  fair  prize  for  the 
best  pig  raised  by  a  school  child  to  the  Nobel  Peace 
Prize. 

A  notable  plan  for  discovering  individuals  who  have 
a  liking  for  art  is  quietly  at  work  in  Philadelphia.  It 
is  called  the.Graphic  Sketch  Club  which  now  has  nearly 
four  hundred  members.  It  started  years  ago  when  a 
young  manufacturer  overheard  some  small  boys  in  a 
congested  district  discussing  a  wretched  chromo  land- 
scape that  was  displayed  in  a  notion  shop.  One  street 
urchin  was  awed  by  the  fact  that  the  road  looked  as  if 
you  could  walk  miles  and  miles  down  it.  Another  was 
surprised  that  the  artist  kept  on  painting  in  such  a 
storm.     For  days  this  picture  obsessed  Mr.  Samuel  S. 


234  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

Fleischer :  those  boys  were  impressed ;  they  liked  it ; 
they  studied  it;  they  wanted  to  imitate  it;  they  did 
not  want  to  break  windows  or  play  sneak  thief  when 
under  its  spell.  Could  it  be  that  art  has  a  universal 
appeal  and  that  these  crowded  districts  need  art  and 
beauty  more  than  they  need  even  higher  wages,  or 
need  it  as  an  incentive  to  earning  and  demanding 
higher  wages? 

Self-questioning  led  with  Mr.  Fleischer  as  it  should 
with  all  of  us,  to  activity.  He  found  half  a  dozen 
boys  who  seemed  to  want  to  draw;  he  started  a  club 
whose  story  has  a  thousand  messages  for  American 
education.  A  score  of  these  boys  have  been  sent  to 
Rome  and  Paris  by  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Art. 
Among  them  are  today  many  of  Philadelphia's  fore- 
most artists.  Teachers,  social  workers,  ministers  have 
a  standing  invitation  to  call  special  artistic  ability  or 
special  sensitiveness  to  art  to  the  Sketch  Club. 

But  it  is  not  the  discovery  of  artistic  ability  which 
has  given  the  founder  most  satisfaction.  Instead,  it 
is  the  proof  which  he  believes  is  being  lived  by  these 
hundreds  of  Graphic  Sketch  Club  Members  that 
through  a  special  liking  for  art  strongly  balanced 
character  and  love  of  the  beautiful  in  life  as  well  as 
the  beautiful  in  art  can  be  generated.  The  making 
of  men  and  women  through  their  art  is  deemed  more 
important  than  the  making  of  artists. 

Without  cost  to  the  prospective  artist  and  to  the 


TRAINING   OF   THE   SPECIALLY   GIFTED  235 

men  and  women  to  be,  a  museum  of  choice  works  of 
art  is  maintained  for  instruction  and  incentive. 
Skilled  and  devoted  teachers  are  also  furnished.  The 
government  of  the  club,  including  the  protection  of  the 
museum,  is  entirely  by  the  students  themselves;  yet 
not  one  dollar's  worth  of  pottery  or  paintings  or 
tapestry  or  sculpture  has  ever  been  lost  or  even  in- 
jured. A  similar  method  of  dedicating  and  training 
special  gifts  and  of  building  character  and  citizenship 
on  special  gifts  is  practicable  in  all  cities. 

Why  should  not  state  school  systems  everywhere 
do  the  same  for  special  literary  promise  and  for  any 
other  special  aptitudes?  Our  schools  are  in  a  strate- 
gic position  for  detecting  ability  that  is  above  the 
average.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  states  where 
compulsory  attendance  laws  have  not  yet  been  adopted, 
100%  of  our  children  must  go  to  school;  gradually 
the  maximum  age  is  being  raised  until  in  Wisconsin, 
for  example,  every  one  under  seventeen  and  over  five 
must  be  either  in  full  time  schools  or  in  daytime  con- 
tinuation schools  which  must  be  attended  by  children 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen  who  are 
employed  in  stores  or  shops.  There  is  no  excuse  for 
our  large  army  of  600,000  school  teachers  (and  school 
committees  of  women's  clubs)  failing  to  encourage, 
and  least  of  all  is  there  excuse  for  their  failing  to 
discover,  special  aptitudes  or  gifts  along  art  lines.  So 
rapidly  is  equipment  for  manual  training  being  intro- 


236  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

duced  into  urban  and  rural  schools  that  we  may  soon 
say  there  is  no  excuse  for  failing  to  discover  special 
aptitude  with  the  hands. 

Progress  is  the  more  rapid  since  it  has  been  found 
educationally  sound  and  advisable  to  give  children 
credit  at  school  for  work  done  out  of  school  or  in 
school  along  both  manual  and  artistic  lines,  music, 
drawing,  gardening  and  homemaking. 

One  reason  why  special  ability  has  not  been  more 
widely  encouraged  is  that  we  have  not  been  looking 
for  it.  Those  of  us  who  have  lacked  special  gifts 
will  naturally  not  worry  about  finding  them  in  others 
until  we  appreciate  the  public's  need  for  individual 
gifts.  Before  incomes  were  taxed  neither  the  govern- 
ment nor  the  public  had  special  interest  in  private  in- 
comes. After  incomes  were  made  taxable  it  became 
the  business  of  numerous  tax  officers  to  search  far 
and  near  with  telescope  and  microscope  to  prevent  the 
hiding  of  any  taxable  income.  So  fast  as  we  decide 
that  special  gifts  are  public  trusts,  we  shall  set  in- 
numerable agencies  to  searching  by-ways  for  these 
special  gifts. 

A  second  reason  why  much  special  ability  never 
comes  to  the  surface  is  that  our  method  of  teaching 
too  often  causes  possessors  to  shrink  from  confessing 
to  others  or  to  themselves  that  they  have  special  liking 
or  capacity.  Love  of  music  is  inhibited  by  instruction 
in  the  mechanics  of  music,  the  teaching  and  drawing 


TRAINING    OF   THE    SPECIALLY    GIFTED  2^J 

of  scales  and  clefs  to  the  exclusion  of  singing  and 
playing.  Love  of  drawing  and  modelling  is  chilled 
by  the  futile,  pottering,  mechanical,  unimaginative  uni- 
formity with  which  teachers  of  art  too  often  inflict 
their  children.  Who  is  at  fault  is  not  the  question. 
It  may  be  the  teacher,  it  may  be  the  printed  course  of 
study,  or  the  supervisor  who  lacks  imagination  neces- 
sary to  look  for  individuality  and  perhaps  the  sym- 
pathetic understanding  that  is  essential  to  encourage 
children.  With  neglect  and  miseducation  that  are 
little  short  of  criminal,  the  love  of  teaching,  the  art 
of  arts,  is  changed  to  perfunctory  compliance  or  resent- 
ful loathing  of  requirements  which  put  a  premium 
upon  mechanical  uniformity. 

What  can  we  expect  of  teachers  trained  in  this  way 
except  for  them  to  degenerate  into  taking  the  children 
through  the  mechanical  clock-like  daily  routine  which 
gives  no  opportunity  for  the  manifestation  of  special 
gifts? 

What  is  a  teacher  to  do  with  specially  gifted  children 
after  she  has  been  marked  unsatisfactory  at  one  of 
our  greatest  teacher  training  schools  because  in  answer- 
ing certain  questions  she  showed  that  she  had  read 
on  in  advance  of  the  assignment  given  to  a  graduate 
class  of  teachers  and  therefore  was  not  supposed  to 
know  and  could  not  properly  be  credited  for  opinions 
which  she  would  not  normally  encounter  until  a  fort- 
night later? 


238  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

Laymen's  interest  truly  says  that  the  way  to  dis- 
cover those  who  have  musical  ability  is  to  give  all  of 
us  musical  expression,  to  have  us  sing  and  love  sing- 
ing, to  test  our  aptitude  for  playing  the  piano  by  hav- 
ing us  play  the  piano.  The  road  to  loving  art  is  doing 
art  that  one  feels;  the  power  to  give  is  disclosed  by 
giving  rather  than  by  doing  something  which  in  the 
remote  future  may  lead  to  ability  to  give. 

Once  having  assumed  responsibility  for  training  the 
possessors  of  special  gifts  so  that  they  will  in  turn 
consider  themselves  stewards  of  special  talents,  it 
should  be  the  ambition  of  governments  to  facilitate 
and  expedite  the  working  of  nature's  law  that  yester- 
day's special  gift  becomes  today's  general  luxury  and 
tomorrow's  general  comfort.  By  doing  our  utmost  to 
universalize  every  special  gift  that  is  now  before  our 
eyes,  we  bring  to  light  still  rarer  gifts.  Every  new 
special  gift  which  society  discovers  and  enjoys  stimu- 
lates keener  and  wider  effort  to  abolish  special  privi- 
lege and  to  compel  public  participation  in  private  ability 
to  render  special  service. 

Five  types  of  special  gift  familiar  to  readers  repre- 
sent untold  resources  for  promoting  public  welfare  if 
society  will  only  set  out  to  harness  them  to  citizenship 
work,  as  our  war  revenue  bill  is  tapping  heretofore 
untaxed  sources  of  public  revenue.  The  gifts  are  first 
listed  together  in  order  to  help  the  reader  decide  in 
how  many  ways  he  is  specially  gifted  and  what  ac- 


TRAINING    OF   THE    SPECIALLY    GIFTED  239 

quaintances   best  epitomize  each   of   the  five   special 
gifts: 

(1)  Exceptional  vision,  comprehension  or  understand- 
ing of  community  needs,  whether  due  to  sensi- 
tive organization,  unusual  opportunity,  or  unusual 
use  of  Everyman's  opportunity. 

(2)  Talent,  whether  mechanical,  literary,  artistic,  com- 
mercial or  executive. 

(3)  Personality  that  in  its  own  environment  is  excep- 
tional and  wins  leadership,  whether  due  to  traits 
of  character,  physique,  training,  voice,  eloquence, 
persuasiveness,  or  spirit  of  fellowship. 

(4)  Opportunity  of  time  or  place  or  personal  connec- 
tion which  gives  special  power. 

(5)  Material  wealth  as  defined,  not  by  those  who  are 
wealthier  or  by  the  possessor,  but  by  those  in  the 
possessor's  environment  who  are  working  for 
wages  or  have  little  or  no  material  wealth. 

Too  often  the  exceptional  advantages  that  come 
under  the  foregoing  five  heads  are  used  for  self -ad- 
vancement with  little  or  no  thought  of  citizen  obliga- 
tions beyond  giving  the  public  what  it  demands  and 
pays  for.  Only  by  special  training  of  all  of  us  to  re- 
gard such  gifts  in  whatever  measure  they  are  possessed 
as  public  trusts  can  we  hope  to  succeed  in  persuading 
those  who  are  notably  gifted  that  they  should  direct 
their  gifts  toward  furthering  the  public  interest. 

The  seer  or  see-er  who  has  the  gifts  of  interpreta- 
tation  and  prophecy;  the  man  of  genius  who  invents 


24O  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

flying  machines  or  builds  railroads;  the  woman  with 
money  beyond  her  capacity  to  enjoy  spending  it  upon 
herself;  the  person  who  finds  himself  particularly 
favoured  with  respect  to  time  or  place  or  friends ;  — 
all  of  these  must  and  can  be  headed  toward  public 
service  uses  of  their  advantages. 

To  help  us  think  together  of  the  same  facts,  let  us 
cite  a  few  cases  where  each  type  of  special  gift  has 
given  the  possessor  special  enjoyment  because  he  has 
used  it  for  his  fellow  citizens. 

Vision  is  more  and  more  being  regarded  as  a  trust 
which  should  be  used  for  the  public  weal.  Some- 
times vision  merely  means  seeing  actual,  living,  count- 
able things  before  the  public  sees  them;  it  may  be  the 
result  of  painstaking  research  or  of  quickly  grasping 
the  lesson  from  others'  research.  Sometimes  vision 
is  seeing  things  that  have  not  yet  any  physical  exist- 
ence, as,  for  example,  the  probable  utility  of  the  city 
manager  form  of  government,  or  the  certain  value  of 
registering  every  suspected  case  of  tuberculosis.  Fre- 
quently vision  or  special  understanding  is  seeing  how 
new  needs  give  special  value  to  old  truths.  Whether 
vision  is  the  result  of  inspiration  or  of  infinite  pains, 
it  is  nevertheless  a  public  asset.  It  is  almost  always  a 
public  product,  and  should  be  given  to  or  shared  with 
the  public. 

A  famous  banker  saw  at  the  outset  of  our  war  with 
Germany  that  we  were  to  spend  sums  which  would 


TRAINING   OF   THE   SPECIALLY   GIFTED  24 1 

"stagger  the  imagination  ";  that  we  were  "  bound  to 
make  mistakes  ':  in  an  enterprise  of  this  "  colossal 
magnitude  and  difficulty  " ;  that  these  mistakes  would 
be  noticed  first  by  business  men ;  and  that  "  it  is  the 
duty  of  each  one  of  us  in  such  a  case  quietly  and 
courteously  to  bring  the  facts  to  the  attention  of  the 
official  responsible."  He  took  the  first  step  in  dis- 
charging his  trusteeship  when  he  passed  his  vision  on 
to  two  thousand  other  business  men  and  to  the  public. 
Our  first  congresswoman  saw  not  only  what  others 
had  seen,  that  the  war  would  cause  distress  in  the 
homes  of  fallen  soldiers,  but  that  it  was  her  privilege 
and  duty  as  congresswoman  to  secure  timely  attention 
to  this  anticipated  distress.  The  newspapers  of  the 
country  helped  her  share  her  outlook  with  the  public 
by  printing  her  appeal : 

"The  women  who  were  left  behind  will  bear  the 
double  burden  of  providing  for  the  family  and  bringing 
up  the  children  in  a  wholesome  home  atmosphere.  Thus 
.  .  .  we  are  greatly  enhancing  the  responsibility  of  each 
woman  in  the  soldier's  family.  A  woman  who  bears 
these  responsibilities  is  performing  a  service  for  the 
country  which  deserves  compensation  as  a  matter  of  jus- 
tice and  of  ultimate  social  economy.  We  cannot  allow 
the  ravages  of  poverty  to  disintegrate  our  social  structure 
while  the  earners  are  at  the  front." 

That  medical  see-ers  cannot  ethically  copyright  their 
exceptional -vision,  has  for  generations  been  maintained 


242  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

by  the  medical  profession,  one  after  another  of  whose 
leaders  have  promptly  given  to  the  public  information 
and  remedies  which,  if  withheld,  would  have  made 
them  multimillionaires.  The  same  patriotic  motive 
led  the  inventor  of  the  Babcock  test  for  mechanically 
separating  cream  from  milk  to  give  away  for  nothing 
a  discovery  that  has  enriched  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  farmers  by  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars. 

More  important  in  its  total  benefaction  than  are 
these  exceptional  visions,  is  the  every  day  situation 
when  a  woman's  club  or  a  board  of  commerce  or  a 
teachers'  organization  is  able  to  look  over  the  fence 
that  obstructs  the  public's  view,  sees  some  truth  about 
public  affairs  which  would  lead  to  public  action  if  the 
public  itself  should  see  it,  and  straightway  gives  that 
picture  to  the  public,  once,  twice,  fifty  times  if  need 
be,  until  playgrounds  are  established,  kindergartens 
introduced,  tenement  laws  passed,  full  time  health  of- 
ficer appointed,  or  city  business  methods  put  on  an 
efficient  basis. 

The  second  special  gift,  talent,  is  in  part  its  own 
reward.  The  world's  greatest  musicians  probably 
sang  quite  as  beautifully  and  with  as  much  enjoyment 
when  they  were  receiving  $100  a  concert  as  today 
when  they  are  receiving  such  unprecedented  amounts 
as  $2500  a  concert.  It  is  not  some  new  money  passion 
among  talented  artists  which  is  now  enriching  that 
craft  which  formerly  was  notorious  for  improvidence 


TRAINING    OF    THE    SPECIALLY    GIFTED  243 

and  indifference  in  money  matters.  The  money  mak- 
ing genius  still  remains  with  professional  money  mak- 
ers who  by  competition  among  themselves  for  the  ex- 
clusive chance  to  exploit  popular  artists  are  forcing 
upon  men  and  women  of  true  artistic  talent  wealth  of 
which  the  latter  could  not  of  themselves  have  dreamt. 
Is  it  not  cause  for  sincere  congratulation  that  Charley 
Chaplin,  for  example,  if  left  to  himself,  could  never 
have  believed  that  his  art  was  worth  a  million  dollars 
a  year  ? 

It  is  the  public  rather  than  the  inventor  which  has 
passed  patent  laws  and  copyright  laws.  Those  of  us 
who  do  not  invent  or  write  have  passed  these  laws 
because  we  are  convinced  that  talent  will  try  harder 
and  more  successfully  if  we  guarantee  in  advance  that 
it  shall  share  in  any  substantial  pecuniary  benefits. 

Tempting  men  to  look  for  pecuniary  profit  is  train- 
ing them  to  think  about  pecuniary  profit  for  them- 
selves. Can  we  at  the  same  time  train  them  to  use 
their  talent  for  the  public?  President  Roosevelt  an- 
swered this  question  by  converting  men  who  were 
talented  outlaws  into  talented  detectors,  arrestors  and 
preventors  of  outlawry.  How  to  incline  the  twig  so 
that  the  tree  will  be  bent  toward  public  use  of  talent 
must  be  discovered  for  talent  and  for  the  other  special 
gifts. 

The  third  special  gift,  personality,  is  quite  unevenly 
distributed.     Judged  by  any  other  standard  except  that 


244  UNIVERSAL    TRAINING 

the  world  is  entitled  to  like  what  it  likes,  the  rewards 
of  personality  seem  to  be  quite  unfairly  distributed. 
Since,  however,  as  Bernard  Shaw  has  said,  the  chief 
purpose  of  self-government  is  to  satisfy  the  self-gov- 
erned, rather  than  to  achieve  any  special  degree  of 
efficiency,  we  must  be  reconciled  to  the  fact  that  a 
man  six  feet  tall  with  a  pleasing,  powerful  voice,  good 
nature  and  persuasive  manner  will  forever  and  a  day 
have  an  advantage  in  any  contest  for  popular  votes 
over  a  man  who  is  six  inches  shorter,  irascible  of  tem- 
per and  incapable  of  public  speaking. 

Personality's  profits  are  vastly  greater  than  the 
profits  of  talent  or  vision.  It  is  only  in  biographies 
for  popular  consumption  that  the  success  of  "  success- 
ful men  "  and  the  leadership  of  "  great  leaders  "  are 
made  out  of  industry  and  thrift  multiplied  by  honesty 
and  zeal.  On  the  contrary  striking  successes  can  be 
explained  far  more  often  by  striking  personality  than 
by  exceptional  thrift  and  industry.  We  need  a  new 
literature  of  biography  that  will  tell  the  truth  about 
the  tremendous  importance  of  what  we  call  person- 
ality, and  of  discovering  it  early  and  overcoming  its 
deficiencies  by  well  known  methods  of  cultivation 
which  can  do  for  personality  quite  as  wonderful  things 
as  Mr.  Burbank  does  when  he  makes  the  cactus  bear 
luscious  fruit. 

Opportunity  of  time,  place  and  personal  connections 
is  included  amongst  special  gifts  because  persons  who 


TRAINING    OF   THE   SPECIALLY    GIFTED  245 

are  next  to  great  leaders,  great  inventors,  and  great 
artists  often  play  more  determining  roles  in  the  pub- 
lic use  of  these  special  gifts  than  do  their  possessors. 

A  secretary  of  a  president  of  the  United  States  is 
trustee  of  a  wonderful  opportunity,  the  use  of  which 
depends  largely  upon  his  attitude  toward  the  public. 

The  secretary  of  a  mayor  or  governor  or  university 
president  or  member  of  congress  is  also  trustee  of  an 
unusual  opportunity;  if  unaware  of  that  opportunity, 
if  he  undervalues  it,  or  if  he  appropriates  its  benefits 
to  himself  much  public  harm  can  be  done  and  innumer- 
able opportunities  to  help  are  lost.  The  general  public 
can  take  a  leaf  out  of  the  book  of  professional  appeal- 
ers for  money,  who  make  it  a  point  to  "  play  up  to," 
to  "  land,"  to  win  the  confidence  and  favour  of  private 
secretaries,  physicians,  legal  advisers  or  relatives  of 
hoped  for  benefactors. 

Unusual  influence  due  to  opportunity  is  by  no  means 
limited  to  persons  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  specially 
gifted.  Any  one  of  us  may  find  himself  the  one  per- 
son best  able  to  help  a  community  meet  an  emergency 
or  take  advantage  of  some  opportunity.  The  farmer 
whose  land  adjoins  the  country  schoolhouse  is  the 
only  man  who  has  a  special  opportunity  to  add  three 
or  five  acres  to  the  school  playground.  When  the 
nation  wished  to  borrow  two  billion  dollars  our  lead- 
ing bankers  in  all  sections  found  themselves  possessors 
of  a  very  special  opportunity  to  help. 


246  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

Similarly,  when  it  became  necessary  for  our  gov- 
ernment to  purchase  enormous  quantities  of  war  ma- 
terial, the  men  who  theretofore  had  had  little  reason 
to  think  of  government  except  to  regret  its  extrava- 
gance or  perhaps  even  to  resent  its  taxes,  found  them- 
selves suddenly  in  a  position  where  their  knowledge 
of  their  own  business  became  over  night  invaluable 
to  the  government.  From  scores  of  these  men  pos- 
sessing special  knowledge,  and  therefore  having  special 
obligation,  a  council  of  defence  was  organized. 

Later  when  President  Wilson  made  an  appeal  to 
shippers  and  manufacturers  against  profiteering,  that 
is  against  exploiting  the  nation's  dire  need  for  their 
own  benefit,  he  specifically  declared  that  he  was  saying 
only  what  the  whole  nation  wanted  to  say,  and  saw 
nothing  which  the  rest  of  us  did  not  see.  With  regard  x 
to  this  situation,  neither  his  vision  nor  his  talent  nor 
his  personality  gave  him  an  added  power  or  an  added 
responsibility;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  the  peculiar 
opportunity  of  place  which  made  him  the  logical 
spokesman  for  a  nation.  With  similar  sense  of 
trusteeship  an  increasing  number  of  preachers  each 
year  use  the  special  opportunity  afforded  by  their 
responsive  audiences  to  drive  home  appeals  for  patri- 
otic citizenship. 

Wealth  as  a  special  gift  that  imposes  special  obliga- 
tions is  better  understood  than  the  four  other  gifts. 
At  this  point  may  we  caution  the  reader  again  that 


TRAINING   OF  THE   SPECIALLY   GIFTED  247 

wealth  is  relative.  Many  a  person  who  seems  wealthy 
beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice  to  his  neighbours  in 
the  country  town,  would  have  to  live  in  a  back  street 
apartment  house  in  New  York  City.  The  same  news- 
papers which  tell  that  a  wealthy  man  has  died  leaving 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  also  tell  that  the  courts 
have  just  decided  that  Baby  X,  Y,  Z  cannot  live  as 
he  ought  to  live  for  less  than  the  income  on  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  For  the  same  reason  that  when 
traitors  become  numerous  enough,  treason  becomes 
respectable,  it  is  true  that  where  every  man  is  a  mil- 
lionaire, the  possession  of  a  million  or  more  is  not 
a  special  gift,  and  so  far.  as  the  multimillionaire  group 
is  concerned,  imposes  no  special  obligation. 

To  know  whether  a  given  amount  of  this  world's 
goods  is  wealth  or  competence  or  financial  stringency, 
we  must  know  how  each  possessor  ranks  with  others 
in  his  own  social  and  industrial  environment.  He  is 
rich  compared  with  those  who  have  less  than  he;  he 
is  poor  compared  with  those  who  have  more  than  he. 
Little  headway  can  be  made  in  a  Democracy  where 
those  who  have  little  or  no  money  wealth,  insist  that 
the  enormously  wealthy  shall  accept  for  themselves 
standards  of  obligation  which  we  do  not  apply  when 
measuring  ourselves  against  our  own  personal  back- 
ground and  opportunity. 

It  is  the  ungifted  who  make  the  market  or  the  audi- 
ence or  the  background  without  which  the  specially 


248  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

gifted  can  achieve  neither  personal  happiness  nor 
worldly  success.  There  is  reason  enough  for  urging 
the  specially  gifted  to  use  their  advantages  for  public 
benefit,  that  only  through  such  use  of  their  surplus  can 
the  specially  gifted  be  repaid  for  what  they  are  giving 
to  the  world.  Another  sufficient  reason  for  demand- 
ing public  use  of  private  gifts  is  that  the  special  ad- 
vantages possessed  by  the  few  among  us  are  largely, 
when  not  entirely,  due  to  things  which  the  public  has 
done.  These  facts  are  so  clearly  recognized  by  the 
specially  gifted  themselves  that  our  problem  is  not 
to  convert  them  to  public  spirited  motives,  but  to  help 
them  find  concrete  opportunities  for  expressing  these 
motives  in  action. 

For  every  community  there  should  be  prepared  up- 
to-date  lists  of  community  needs  not  yet  met  and  com- 
munity work  that  needs  to  be  done.  Obviously  it 
will  do  little  good  to  stimulate  a  spirit  of  responsibility 
unless  communities  advertise  their  needs.  As  the  war 
has  shown,  special  gifts  are  quickly  diverted  from 
selfish  outlets  to  public  spirited  outlets  when  the  pos- 
sessor of  special  abilities  is  offered  alternatives.  If 
no  way  of  helping  the  public  is  shown  to  the  corpora- 
tion president,  he  cannot  be  blamed  for  failing  to  think 
of  his  obligation  to  the  public.  It  is  not  until  a  public 
use  for  private  yachts  or  motor  boats  is  obvious*  that 
the  owner  can  sensibly  consider  making  his  yacht  or 
motor  boat  available  to  the  public.     In  ordinary  times 


TRAINING   OF   THE   SPECIALLY   GIFTED  249 

Philip  Sousa,  premier  band  master  and  composer  of 
inspiriting  martial  music,  can  give  infinitely  more  pleas- 
ure by  going  where  people  pay  to  hear  him  than  by 
offering  his  services  to  his  country;  it  was  the  war- 
time need  of  our  soldier  boys  at  the  French  front 
which  made  it  reasonable  and  patriotic  for  Mr.  Sousa 
to  volunteer  his  leadership. 

Here  and  there  a  school  superintendent  or  a  chari- 
ties commissioner  has  in  peace  times  listed  special  op- 
portunities for  service  gifts  or  money  gifts.  Almost 
always  there  are  two  givers  for  every  call,  as  wher- 
ever facts  about  foster  children  have  been  published 
there  are  disclosed  two  childless  homes  wishing  chil- 
dren, for  every  homeless  child.  The  listing  of  com- 
munity needs  by  public  officers,  private  charities  and 
those  recently  created  community  trusts  which  make  a 
specialty  of  studying  opportunities  for  givers,  will 
progressively  educate  everybody  including  the  specially 
gifted  to  prefer  personal  pleasures  that  include  and 
foster  community  pleasures. 

Training  for  consecration  can  be  best  accomplished 
by  advertising  facts  which  cannot  be  sheltered  in  the 
mind  without  producing  a  ferment  of  neighbourly  in- 
terest analogous  to  the  ferment  which  leads  to  whole- 
some opportunity  when  yeast  is  mixed  with  flour  and 
milk.  The  consecration  which  injures  where  it  desires 
to  help  is  conventionally  illustrated  by  the  fable  of 
the  elephant  who  was  so  remorseful  because  she  had 


25O  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

crushed  a  setting  hen  with  her  foot  that  she  sat  on 
the  eggs  herself  in  order  to  hatch  out  the  hen's  brood. 
The  consecration  of  the  specially  gifted  will  often 
have  a  similar  result  unless  its  sense  of  obligation  is 
put  to  work  upon  carefully  analysed  public  needs. 
Noblesse  oblige  was  a  good  sentiment  which  became 
so  perverted  that  it  came  to  be  synonomous  with  "  no- 
bility exploits." 

Possessors  of  relatively  large  fortunes  are  dramati- 
cally trying  out  side  by  side,  two  distinct  methods  of 
handling  those  fortunes  for  the  public  benefit.  In 
the  same  town,  in  the  same  industry,  and  now  and 
then  in  the  same  man  or  woman  these  two  methods 
of  public  spirited  direction  of  private  capital  are  being 
exhibited.  It  is  almost  as  if  there  were  a  spirited 
competition  between  two  ideas  of  trusteeship,  one  of 
which  discharges  its  obligation  through  production  or 
investments  that  build  railroads  or  cheapen  the  cost  of 
living,  while  the  other  gives  attention  or  money  or 
both  to  helping  communities  deal  with  other  peo- 
ple's productive  investments  and  with  social  condi- 
tions. 

The  interest  which  rich  men  and  women  and  ob- 
serving publics  and  discerning  critics  are  taking  in 
these  two  different  expressions  of  the  higher  citizen- 
ship recalls  a  personal  experience  which  illustrates  this 
chapter's  point  that,  when  shown  alternatives,  the 
specially  gifted  will  tend  to  become  intensely  interested 


TRAINING   OF  THE   SPECIALLY   GIFTED  25 1 

in  using  their  talents  for  the  public  good.  I  was  once 
asked  by  telephone  if  a  small  amount,  $500,  spent  on 
summer  recreation  for  poor  districts  would  do  much 
good.  I  promised  to  investigate,  and  later  reported 
that  there  were  already  so  many  different  agencies  at 
work  on  the  particular  city's  recreation  problem  that 
an  additional  collaborator  might  easily  do  more  harm 
than  good.  When  asked  what  good  could  be  done 
with  $500,  I  listed  ten  or  twelve  different  needs. 
When  asked  for  further  details  about  certain  needs 
which  appealed  to  the  questioning  donor,  I  did  my  best 
to  send  information.  Incidentally  we  were  unable  to 
secure  a  definite  plan  from  one  agency  which  I  had 
suggested  and  whose  work  I  knew  sadly  needed  the 
money.  A  meeting  was  held  for  explaining  more  in 
detail  the  alternatives  which  interested  the  donor 
most.     The  interview  proceeded  like  this: 

Q.     How  much  would  it  cost  to  do  the  work  for 

Little  Mothers  ? 
A.     Let's  ask  the  woman  physician  in  charge.  .  .  . 

The  doctor  telephones  that  it  will  cost  $500. 
Q.    All  right,  let's  do  that. 

How   much   would   the   work   for   the  Junior 

Civic  Leagues  cost? 
A.     Well,  that  is  another  case  where  you  can  do  a 

great  deal  for  $500,  and  you  can  do  four  times 

as  much  for  a  thousand  dollars. 


252  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

Q.  All  right,  let's  try  a  thousand  dollars.  Now 
how  about  Item  III,  food  inspection?  .  .  . 

To  a  participant's  suggestion  that  too  much  was 
being  tried  the  donor  replied: 

Q.  No,  you  leave  me  alone !  This  is  the  first  time 
in  my  life  that  I  ever  thought  of  comparing  dif- 
ferent ways  of  giving  away  money.  (Turn- 
ing to  me.)  .  .  .  What  could  you  do  with 
$1500  for  food  inspection? 

A.  Why,  we  could  turn  the  town  upside  down 
for  $1500. 

Q.  Well,  then,  go  right  ahead  and  turn  it  upside 
down. 

If  the  public  were  an  unbiassed  judge  that  awarded 
confidence  and  praise  with  respect  only  to  results  ob- 
tained by  the  two  different  methods  of  using  money 
power,  this  new  competition  between  public  motived 
attention  to  community  work  and  public  motived  ex- 
ploitation of  private  business  would  not  be  so  one- 
sided. Fortunately,  the  two  methods  of  self-expres- 
sion in  the  interest  of  others  are  mutually  infectious. 
Men  and  women  cannot  become  intensely  interested 
in  community  work,  give  to  it  time  and  money  during 
their  lives  and  large  bequests  in  wills  without  becom- 
ing more  responsive  to  appeals  within  and  without 


TRAINING   OF   THE   SPECIALLY    GIFTED  253 

themselves  for  industrial  and  governmental  justice  and 
democracy ;  nor  can  anything  prevent  them  from  hav- 
ing extensive  influence  upon  other  men  and  women 
who  have  power  to  give.  It  is  just  as  true  that  the 
men  and  women  who,  instead  of  trying  to  get  every- 
thing they  can  for  themselves  out  of  their  private  busi- 
ness earnestly  try  to  make  their  business  do  every- 
thing it  can  for  those  engaged  in  it  and  connected 
with  it,  find  themselves  wanting  to  cross  over  the  line 
into  community  work  and  also  find  their  spirit  directly 
and  indirectly  influencing  large  circles  of  colleagues 
and  strangers.  Thus,  regardless  of  present  public  bias 
in  favour  of  philanthropy,  demonstrations  that  are  be- 
ing made  by  public  spirited  private  business  are  rap- 
idly weakening  the  invidious  distinctions  which  here- 
tofore have  favoured  private  philanthropy. 

A  necessary  step  in  training  the  possessors  of  extra 
wealth  to  use  their  wealth  creatively,  imaginatively  and 
public  spiritedly  is  for  the  general  public  to  apply  the 
adage,  "  Handsome  is  as  handsome  does,"  to  money 
kept  at  work  as  well  as  to  money  given  away. 

Strictly  speaking,  the  man  who  raises  the  minimum 
wage  for  his  labourers  from  $3.50  to  $5  a  day,  or 
who  lowers  the  price  of  his  commodity  ten  per  cent, 
may  be  as  philanthropic  in  his  motive  as  the  man  who 
establishes  a  half  million  or  a  hundred  million  dollar 
foundation.  Yet  so  under  the  spell  of  much  adver- 
tised philanthropy  are  we  that  even  when  we  ourselves 


254  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

are  beneficiaries  of  increased  wages  or  lower  prices  we 
think  of  our  benefactor  as  a  shrewd  business  man 
rather  than  as  a  philanthropist,  and  even  when  we  are 
ma/^-ficiaries  of  the  bene-voltnt  man  who  endows  a 
college  or  a  foundation,  we  instinctively  call  him  a 
philanthropist.  How  our  thinking  about  private 
philanthropy  and  private  business  has  been  conven- 
tionalized, the  following  supposed  case  will  help  each 
of  us  see  for  himself: 

Two  partners  possess  equal  interest  in  an  extensive 
business,  divided  equally  into  two  branches  which 
make  equal  profits,  each  solely  directed  by  one  of  the 
partners.  We,  a  thousand  of  us,  are  so  situated  that 
we  must  buy  things  from  each  of  them.  The  first 
man  increases  our  wages  one-fifth  and  reduces  by  one- 
tenth  the  price  of  whatever  he  sells  us.  The  second 
man  keeps  on  paying  us  the  old  wages  and  keeps  on 
charging  the  old  prices.  The  partner  who  increases 
wages  and  reduces  prices  is  not  known  to  give  a  dollar 
to  any  private  benevolent  or  private  civic  enterprise. 
The  second  partner  who  failed  to  increase  wages  and 
to  reduce  prices  contributes  liberally  to  benevolent  and 
civic  activities,  can  be  counted  upon  to  help  every 
"  good  cause,"  built  a  wing  for  the  new  hospital,  and 
endowed  a  research  foundation.  If  entirely  honest 
with  ourselves,  which  of  these  two  men  would  you  and 
I  instinctively  call  a  philanthropist?  In  your  own 
commmunity,  are  you  yet  able  to  keep  on  your  hat  in 


TRAINING   OF   THE    SPECIALLY    GIFTED  255 

the  presence  of  private  philanthropists  whose  reputa- 
tion for  dodging  taxes  is  quite  as  notable  as  their 
reputation  for  what  is  technically  called  benevolence? 
The  reason  for  extending  these  illustrations  and 
questions  about  different  ways  of  infusing  benevolent 
motive  with  public  spirit  is  to  prepare  the  way  for 
challenging  several  present  day  prejudices:  it  is  not 
wrong  to  look  a  gift  horse  in  the  mouth;  it  is  not 
true  that  it  makes  no  difference  how  that  part  of  a 
fortune  is  made  which  is  later  to  provide  philan- 
thropy ;  it  is  not  even  true  that  it  makes  no  difference 
how  money  is  made  upon  which  excess  taxes  or  excise 
taxes  are  paid;  calling  work  charitable  or  educational 
does  not  of  itself  keep  that  work  from  being  unchari- 
table and  mis-educational ;  the  public  cannot  afford  to 
forget  that  the  test  of  private  philanthropy,  private 
education,  and  private  religion  is  what  they  do  and 
cause  to  be  done  to  society  directly  and  indirectly;  it 
is  by  no  means  always  true  that  wealthy  men  help  so- 
ciety more  by  retiring  from  an  active  business  at  fifty 
or  sixty  years  of  age,  and  thereafter  devoting  them- 
selves to  philanthropy  and  volunteer  public  service 
than  they  can  help  by  carrying  their  business  load  to 
the  end  of  their  destination. 

Before  applauding  the  proposal  that  men  of  large 
affairs  should  stop  making  money  other  than  the  in- 
terest which  money  itself  will  make  for  them,  the  pub- 
lic must  learn  to  wonder,  question,  and  suggest.     We 


256  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

all  remember  instances  where  the  newspapers  extolled 
the  public  spirit,  unselfishness,  breadth  of  view,  and 
philanthropy  of  such  conduct.  Private  agencies  in 
need  of  funds  swarm  around  the  rich  men  who  give 
up  business  for  philanthropy  like  flies  around  honey. 
But  unlike  the  fly,  they  fill  the  air  with  eulogies  of 
their  benefactor  and  with  paeans  of  that  gratitude 
which  is  a  lively  sense  of  favours  to  come.  It  would 
be  quite  unfair  to  deny  the  business  man's  right  to 
arrange  for  more  play  in  his  life,  for  travel,  rest,  self- 
education,  relief  from  tension.  He  has  a  perfect  right 
to  stop  work  and  to  live  on  his  income.  It  is  gener- 
ous of  him  to  contribute  from  his  new  leisure  and  from 
his  assured  income  for  the  advancement  of  as  many 
communities  as  possible.  We  can,  however,  give  him 
full  credit  and  unstinted  praise  for  this  public  spirited 
use  of  his  extra  talents  without  miseducating  others 
who  are  still  in  the  harness  of  business  to  believe  that 
they  have  less  opportunity  or  less  obligation  while 
in  the  harness  than  they  would  have  if  they  retired. 

What  worthier  existence  is  there  than  for  the  man 
with  extra  capital  to  stick  to  his  last  and  to  live  out 
the  life  of  a  model  employer,  model  taxpayer,  and 
model  citizen?  Even  where  business  is  primarily  ex- 
ploitation of  the  public,  the  mere  retiring  from  active 
management  while  still  drawing  dividends  from  un- 
interrupted exploitation  may  be  shoving  the  public 
from  the  frying  pan  into  the  fire. 


TRAINING   OF  THE   SPECIALLY   GIFTED  257 

A  minimum  essential  for  public  opinion  is  to  apply 
to  the  use  of  wealth  for  philanthropic  purposes  the 
point  of  view  which  Whittier  voiced  when  he  said : 

"  Thou  well  canst  spare  a  love  of  these 
Which  ends  in  hate  of  man." 

Benevolent  foundations,  no  matter  how  large  their 
annual  gifts,  must  be  neither  encouraged  nor  per- 
mitted by  the  public  to  hold  the  position  which  several 
of  them  stated  to  the  Industrial  Relations  Commission 
of  19 1 5,  that  they  are  not  even  remotely  responsible 
for  the  labour  conditions  which  produce  their  income. 
No  general  public  can  think  straight  about  the  duties 
of  individual  citizens  to  government  which  applauds 
or  tolerates  the  belief  by  trustees  of  foundations  that 
simply  because  they  own  large  blocks  of  stock  in  a 
corporation  whose  hired  strike  breakers  shoot  women 
and  children  they  are  under  no  special  obligation  to 
look  into  this  method  of  protecting  profits. 

If  our  two  most  celebrated  American  givers,  Mr. 
Carnegie  and  Mr.  Rockefeller,  had  given  to  their  obli- 
gations as  employers,  manufacturers  and  merchants 
their  best  attention  during  the  last  generation  when  they 
have  been  admonishing  other  multimillionaires  to  find 
happiness  in  large  giving  —  if  they  had  stayed  at  the 
helm  until  they  had  secured  in  every  industry  from 
which  their  wealth  is  derived,  the  standard  of  living 
and  working  conditions  which  several  leading  multi- 


258  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

millionaires  today  declare  are  minimum  essentials  — 
who  can  be  sure  that  they  would  have  done  less  good 
than  through  their  foundations  and  other  public  giv- 
ing? And  why  might  they  not  also  have  established 
their  foundations  while  applying  to  their  sources  of 
wealth  the  same  methods  of  research  which  the  foun- 
dations were  organized  to  apply  to  medicine,  educa- 
tion, science  and  government? 

At  present,  you  and  I  can  only  guess  at  what  the 
results  would  have  been  had  Mr.  Carnegie  made  it  his 
ambition  to  become  a  model  employer,  a  model  cus- 
tomer, a  model  citizen  of  all  steel  towns  instead  of  a 
library  and  foundation  builder!  We  can  only  guess 
what  would  have  happened  in  industry  and  commerce 
and  government  if  Mr.  Rockefeller's  power  of  analysis 
had  been  turned  upon  himself  as  citizen,  employer  and 
servant. 

Recent  developments  in  the  industrial  field  throw 
so  much  light  upon  wealth  origins  that  it  is  hoped 
some  special  student  of  sociology  will  take  the  time 
to  work  out  in  detail  a  comparison  year  by  year  of 
what  these  two  expounders  of  the  gospel  of  wealth 
might  have  accomplished  through  industrial  reorgan- 
ization. When  one  national  corporation  establishes 
medical  examination  with  clinics  and  dental  chairs  and 
washrooms  and  physical  training,  not  as  sops  to 
labour's  discontent,  not  as  tips  to  labour's  sense  of 
justice,  not  as  benevolence,  but  as  shrewd  business 


TRAINING    OF   THE    SPECIALLY    GIFTED  259 

investment,  its  example  is  followed  by  a  nationwide 
demand  for  what  was  previously  called  welfare  work 
to  be  installed  now  as  minimum  essentials  of  safety 
first  for  investor  and  labourer  alike.  When  the  Ford 
Motor  Company  announced  a  minimum  wage  of  five 
dollars  a  day,  co-operative  sharing  in  business  profits 
for  labourer  and  customer,  and  a  fair  chance  for  any 
man  to  prove  his  worth  no  matter  what  previous  mis- 
takes he  had  made,  it  did  something  for  citizenship 
and  public  service  which  rivals  any  contribution  ever 
made  through  library,  university  or  foundation. 

If  America's  great  philanthropists  had  as  business 
men  proposed  the  social  reforms  which  as  business 
men  and  capitalists  they  have  so  generally  opposed, 
future  generations  would  be  calling  them  the  highest 
type  of  statesman,  educator  and  benefactor. 

Revulsion  is  taking  place  against  giving  for  giv- 
ing's  sake  and  against  building  up  vested  bulwarks  of 
conservatism  in  foundations.  This  tendency  is  show- 
ing itself  in  two  forms:  one  is  the  community  trust 
which  invites  gifts  for  no  specific  purpose  and  guar- 
antees that  year  by  year  the  income  shall  be  used  for 
meeting  those  needs  which  are  most  urgent  each  year ; 
the  other  is  a  widespread  fear  of  foundation  inter- 
ference through  subsidy  or  advertised  advice  and  a 
resulting  demand  for  government  supervision  of  pri- 
vate benevolence. 

Should  public  giving  be  discouraged?     On  the  con- 


260  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

trary,  public  giving  should  be  encouraged  and  public 
opinion  should  be  enlightened  as  to  where  special  gifts 
exist  so  that  public  giving  will  be  practically  compul- 
sory. The  best  service,  however,  that  any  giver  can 
render  is  to  carry  his  own  responsibilities  as  employer, 
taxpayer  and  citizen,  and  then  to  use  such  surplus  as 
he  gives  to  the  public  for  the  special  purpose  of  mak- 
ing that  particular  kind  of  giving  unnecessary.  The 
best  substitute  for  unwise  or  selfish  giving  is  well  di- 
rected and  unselfish  giving.  Whether  an  individual's 
giving  is  wise  and  unselfish  depends  primarily  upon 
what  the  general  public  knows  and  sees  and  its  fidelity 
in  keeping  always  in  the  foreground  a  list  of  com- 
munity needs  not  yet  met. 

No  specially  gifted  class  is  more  in  need  of  training 
for  citizenship  and  public  service  than  the  class  of 
actual  and  potential  givers  of  large  sums  of  money, 
unless  it  is  the  class  of  actual  and  potential  givers  of 
small  sums  in  excess  of  one's  own  needs.  Since,  how- 
ever, any  method  of  general  education  which  applies 
to  those  able  to  give  largely  will  include  methods  neces- 
sary in  order  to  interest  those  able  to  give  on  a  smaller 
scale,  let  us  confine  our  questions  and  suggestions  to 
the  "  big  giving." 

We  all  have  some  unearned  increment,  some  quality 
or  possession  that  to  some  neighbour,  coworker  or 
servant  seems  a  special  gift.  The  surest  way  to  do 
our  part  in  training  others  whose  special  gifts  seem 


TRAINING   OF   THE   SPECIALLY   GIFTED  26 1 

to  us  to  impose  special  obligations  is  to  recognize  our 
personal  obligation  to  use  our  vision,  knowledge, 
wealth,  opportunity  and  patriotism  for  better  citizen- 
ship and  more  democratic  public  service. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
l'avenir  est  magnifique 

After  nearly  a  century  of  devastating  wars  which 
alternately  glorified  and  then  nearly  ruined  one  Eu- 
ropean nation  after  another,  Victor  Hugo  wrote  to 
the  young  men  and  women  of  France  that  they  should 
look  for  the  glory  of  their  country  not  in  its  past  but 
in  its  future;  not  in  the  exploits  of  war  but  in  the 
services  of  peace;  not  in  what  great  generals  had  done 
but  in  what  remained  for  great  privates  to  do. 

In  successive  stirring  appeals  he  took  as  his  text 
I'avenir  est  magnifique.  Nor  did  he  lose  himself  in 
rapturous  dreaming  about  an  inevitable  future  that 
was  bound  to  come  regardless  of  what  young  France 
might  do.  On  the  contrary,  he  sang  of  future  glories 
which  would  come  to  France  only  if  her  young  men 
and  young  women  would  seek  their  opportunity 
through  work  that  remained  to  be  done. 

Today,  in  19 17,  in  the  midst  of  time's  most  de- 
vastating and  least  justifiable  war,  I'avenir  est  magnifi- 
que, the  future  is  glorious,  but  that  glory  has  its  price 
and  its  conditions.  It  is  not  coming  whether  we  want 
it  or  not.     It  is  not  being  sent.     Its  star  will  not  ad- 

262 


l'avenir  est  magnifique  263 

just  itself  in  the  heavens  to  the  low  and  shifting  gaze 
of  selfish,  short-sighted,  unimaginative  patriotism. 
On  the  contrary,  our  future's  glory  is  to  be  earned.  It 
is  coming  only  if  we  work  hard  enough,  consistently 
enough,  and  intelligently  enough  to  take  ourselves  and 
fellow-travellers  to  it. 

Not  even  the  suffering  of  this  world  war  will  bring 
future  glory.  Heaven  knows  that  the  suffering  has 
been  great  enough  to  pay  for  any  glory  our  hearts' 
eyes  can  picture;  but  the  world  is  so  ordered  that 
future  glory  must  be  won  by  future  service  and  not  by 
past  suffering  or  past  glory. 

In  making  the  world's  future  magnificent,  we  must 
depend  upon  the  character,  talent  and  technique  of 
our  privates. 

An  inglorious  future  awaits  any  twentieth  century 
nation  whose  privates  misread  their  own  past;  whose 
privates  glorify  war;  whose  privates  fail  to  see 
straight  and  think  straight  about  the  more  decisive 
incidents  and  personalities  of  the  war  and  about  its 
legacies.  Like  school  boys  on  graduation  day,  privates 
will  find  themselves  with  a  sheepskin  or  diploma  that 
is  meaningless  to  the  rest  of  the  world  and  to  them- 
selves except  as  it  is  a  constant  reminder  that  they 
have  yet  a  great  work  to  do. 

Each  individual's  future  is  glorious  or  inglorious 
according  to  what  he  alone  aims  at  and  attains.  No 
one  who  has  been  alive  to  the  world  events  of  the  year 


264  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

A  Reader's  Snapshot  of  the  Reader's 
Preparedness  for  Citizenship 

Use  check  (  V  )  in  blank  spaces  for  rapid  self-analysis. 
If  in  doubt  write  a  question  mark  and  decide  later. 

As  to  my  patriotism 

1.  Have  I  been  calling  myself  patriotic?     Yes.... no 

2.  Am  I  really  patriotic?    Throughout in  most  important 

matters ....  seldom .... 

3.  Is    my    type    of    patriotism    a    menace    to    my    country? 
Clearly. . .  .possibly no. . . . 

4.  Would  one  hundred  million  people  acting  and  feeling  as  I 
do,  be  considered  patriotic?     Yes. . .  .no. . . . 

5.  Is      my      patriotism     personal.  . .  .partisan. . .  .sectional. . . . 
national worldful. . . .  ? 

As  to  what  my  unpreparedness  is  costing  my  country 

6.  Am  I  unprepared  for  citizenship  at  many  points at  few 

points.  . .  .no.  . . .  ? 

7.  Is  my  unpreparedness  that  of  motive.... of  knowledge.... 
of  habit ? 

8.  Do  I  notably  waste  time.... food money health 

personal  talents.  . .  .opportunity   for   self -improvement. . . .  ? 

9.  Am   I   notably  well  informed. ..  .ill   informed. ..  .trying  to 
become  informed. ..  .indifferent on  public  affairs? 

10.  Do    I    block    society's    progress. ..  .aid    progress. ..  .create 
problems. ..  .help  solve  problems....? 

As  to  universal  training  for  citizenship  and  public  service 

11.  Have    I    resisted    training?    Yes.. ..no Consciously? 

Yes. ..  .no. .. .     Unconsciously?     Yes. . .  .no. . . . 

12.  Have   my   opportunities    for   training   been    numerous.... 
continuous.  . .  .infrequent.  . .  .negligible. . . .  ? 

13.  Do    I    want   training    for    the    poor    only.... for    the    rich 
too. . .  .for  my  children.  . .  .for  myself. . .  .  ? 

14.  Am  I  consciously  trying  to  train  my  children  for  citizen- 
ship and  public  service?    Yes. . .  .no. . . . 

15.  Do    I    see    where    I    can    start    training   today. ..  .tomor- 
row.... next  fall. ..  .sometime  maybe....? 

As  to  minimum  essentials  of  privates 

16.  As  a  private  citizen  am  I  highly  efficient. ..  .tolerable. .. . 
incompetent. ..  .a  liability  and  millstone....? 


l'avenir  est  magnifique  265 

17.  In  the  seven  minimum  essentials  how  do  I   rank:    1)    in 

public  motive,  high low lacking ;  2)  in  ability  to 

read   and   write  public   service    facts,   easy. ..  .difficult. .. . 

bored ;    3)     in    desire    and    effort    to    think    straight, 

high low lacking 54)  in  preparation  for  my  work, 

high. ..  .passable. ..  .low ;    5)    in   opportunity   to   show 

ability  for  higher  work,  great. . .  .medium. . .  .little. . . . ;  6) 
in  knowledge  of  health  laws,  adequate. ..  .moderate. ..  .in- 
adequate.... ;  7)  in  knowledge  of  the  elements  of  govern- 
ment,   adequate   and   definite well   begun. ..  .vague   and 

impracticable. . .  .neglected. . . .  ? 

18.  Do  I  seek....  or  avoid. ..  .public  service  facts? 

19.  How    much    of    the    time    am    I    public-minded?    Gener- 
ally.... frequently ....  seldom ....  never .... 

20.  Am  I  for  truth  regardless  of  party  or  man. ..  .or  for  party 
and  man  regardless  of  truth....? 

As  to  straight  thinking 

21.  Have  I  been  trying  to  think  straight  in  business  matters? 
Yes no In  public  service  matters?     Yes. . .  .no. .. . 

22.  Have  I   learned  the  habit  of  thinking  straight?    Yes 

almost not   yet Am    I    logical or    illogical ? 

prejudiced. ..  .or     unprejudiced ?    lazy or    industri- 
ous  ?   dependent or   independent ? 

23.  Do    I    desire    to    know    the    truth or    to    confirm    my 

prejudices. . . .  ? 

24.  Does  my  questioning  begin  with  locating  a  small  unit  of 
inquiry?    Usually. . .  .sometimes. . .  .never 

25.  Before  making  up  my  mind  do  I  habitually  count  the  units 

of  inquiry?     Yes no Make  comparisons?     Yes 

no Subtract  to  find  the  size  of  difference?     Yes 

no Summarize   and   classify  to   find   the  meaning   of 

differences?    Yes no 

As  to  work  as  private  in  volunteer  civic  work 

26.  To  how  many  civic  agencies  do  I  belong ?    Is  that  my 

share. . .  .too  many. . .  .too  few ? 

27.  Have  I  thought  of  civic  work  as  public  service?    Yes 

no.... 

28.  Have  I  thought  of  my  civic  work  as  equal  to  public  serv- 
ice  or    more    important less    important than    my 

duty  as  citizen  and  taxpayer? 

29.  As   a   member   do   I   work  my  share too   much too 

little....? 


266  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

30.  Do  I  participate  and  follow  questioningly. . .  .or 
blindly....? 

As  to  drillmasters  and  leaders 

31.  In  what  am  I  leader  ?     

32.  Am  I  in  training  for  leadership?     Yes. . .  .no. .. . 

33.  Do  I  work.... mark  time.... or  soldier. ..  .when  given 
chairmanships? 

34.  Do  I  treat  offices  as  honors  for  myself.  ...or  as  oppor- 
tunities. . .  .and  obligations. . .  .to  serve? 

35.  Do  I  judge  leaders  by  results. ..  .social  qualities. ..  .or 
probable  benefits  to  myself. . . .  ? 

As  to  the  learned  professions 

36.  How  many  professional  men  do  I  know  intimately, 
lawyers. ..  .dentists. . .  .musicians. . .  .others. . . .  ? 

37.  Is  my  thought  on  public  questions  influenced  by  them  very 
much. ..  .considerably. . .  .little. . .  .none. . . .  ? 

38.  Am  I  more  influenced  by  public-spirited. ..  .or  by  self- 
centered  professional  men. . . .  ? 

39.  Am  I  helping  train  professional  men  by  expecting  public 
service  of  them?    Yes. . .  .no. . . . 

40.  What  professions  are  organized  for  civic  work  in  my 
locality?   shall  inquire.... 

As  to  civil  service 

41.  Do  I  do  my  kind  of  work  well  enough  for  civil  service? 
Yes no 

42.  Do  I  habitually  disparage  civil  service?    Yes. . .  .no. . . . 

43.  Have  I  been  distinguishing  between  efficient  and  inefficient 
civil  service?    Yes. . .  .no. . . . 

44.  Am   I  expecting  enough  of  civil  service?    Yes. ..  .no. ... 

45.  Shall  I  begin  to  make  more  definite  interest  in  civil  serv- 
ice today. ..  .tomorrow. ..  .next  year. ..  .sometime  may- 
be....?  ' 

As  to  special  gifts 

46.  Which  of  .the  five  special  gifts  do  I  possess?  1)  excep- 
tional   vision,    much negligible....;    2)    talent,    notable 

. . .  .appreciable. . .  .none   yet   discovered. . . .  ;   3)    personal- 
ity,   notable exceptional none little ;    4)     op- 


l'avenir  est  magnifique  267 

portunity     of     time place and     personal     connection 

,     great little none ;     5)     material     wealth, 

much. . .  .relatively  little. . .  .none 

47.  Do  I   regard  these  special  gifts  as  public  trusts or  as 

private  snaps. . . .  ? 

48.  Am  I  thinking  straight  about  public  obligations  of  great 
foundations?     Yes. . .  .not  yet. . . . 

49.  Do  I  judge  my  use  of  my  special  gifts  as  I  judge  the  very 
talented  and  the  very   rich?     Yes not   yet 

50.  Is  it  easy.... or  hard for  special  gifts  in  my  locality  to 

escape  notice? 

As  to  parenthood 

51.  Is   it  desirable. ..  .or   undesirable to  have   a  nation  of 

parents  with  my  qualities? 

52.  Am  I  consciously  training  for  the  seven  fields  where 
training  for  parenthood  is  easily  obtained?  1)  house- 
hold   arts,    yes no ;    2)     household    accounts    and 

family  budget  making,  yes no ;  3)  physical  train- 
ing, yes no ;  4)  recreation,  yes no ;  5)  char- 
acter   analysis,    yes no ;    6)     sex    health,    yes 

no ;    7)    manners,   yes no 

53.  Are  my  deficiencies  serious negligble easily  cor- 
rective  ? 

54.  Could  my  use  of  my  opportunity  in  reading  be  commended 
to  a  nation  of  parents?    Yes no.... 

55.  Comparing  my  practice  and  theory  with  my  opportunity 
to  train  am  I  ahead up  to  grade backward ? 

As  to  my  after-the-war  citizenship 

56.  Do  I  today  face  forward or  face  backward ? 

57.  Do  I  now  consider  that  my  after-the-war  obligations  will 
be  commensurable  with  my  after-the-war  opportunities? 
Clearly vaguely gladly rebelliously 

58.  Do  I  expect  to  continue  to  live  at  the  centre  of  the  world? 
Yes. ..  .no. .. . 

59.  Have  I  determined  to  think  straight  about  after-the-war 
problems?     Yes not  yet 

60.  Shall  I  continue  training  for  citizenship  and  public  serv- 
ice?   Surely maybe definitely indefinitely 


268  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

1917  will  ever  be  able  to  forget  what  it  means  to  be 
a  slacker  even  after  the  public  ceases  its  conscrip- 
tion, its  census  taking,  its  exemptions.  From  the 
penalties  of  feeling  unprepared  there  is  no  exemption. 
The  man  who  is  conscious  of  being  a  menace  or  a 
millstone  must  be  unhappy. 

To  help  the  reader  take  an  inventory  of  his  present 
attitude,  his  present  training  and  his  present  habits 
the  accompanying  score  card  or  list  of  questions  for 
marking  is  suggested  as  a  means  of  entertainment  and 
of  self-training.  To  promote  and  facilitate  self- 
analysis,  different  shades  and  degrees  are  provided 
for  each  quality  or  attitude  listed.  The  blank  spaces 
are  left  to  make  it  easy  to  check  one's  decisions.  Oc- 
casionally a  question  mark  is  inserted  to  suggest  that 
the  reader  who  may  be  in  doubt  as  to  the  answer  might 
profitably  make  a  check  after  it  to  mean  /  will  in- 
vestigate further. 

Those  readers  who  can  more  comfortably  look  at 
a  mouse  or  a  snake  than  at  evidences  of  personal 
deficiency  may  gain  some  amusement  and  indirect  bene- 
fit by  marking  a  life  companion  or  perhaps  some  hero 
or  pet  aversion  among  acquaintances. 

Is  the  chart  too  long?  Or  are  the  questions  too 
few?  If  life  were  so  simple  that  one's  own  prepared- 
ness could  be  summarized  in  a  sentence  and  tested  by 
one  check,  there  would  have  been  no  war  in  the  twen- 
tieth century. 


l'avenir  est  magnifique  269 

Paradoxically  it  is  also  true  that  it  was  the  at- 
tempt of  European  governments  to  condense  numerous 
and  complex  questions  into  single  propositions  which 
precipitated  this  war.  No  one  can  help  solve  the 
problems  of  civilization's  reconstruction  who  is  un- 
willing or  unequipped  to  break  problems  into  their  ele- 
ments and  to  think  straight  about  one  element  at  a 
time  before  trying  to  think  about  all  elements  all  of 
the  time. 

The  great  advantage  of  habitually  breaking  problems 
into  their  elements  is  that  this  habit  helps  one  dis- 
cover the  next  best  step  for  oneself  to  take.  The  habit 
of  taking  best  next  steps  one  after  another  fosters 
clear  and  balanced  vision  which  in  turn  helps  keep 
the  ultimate  goal  shining  in  the  heavens  and  the 
searchlight  of  experience  illuminating  the  path  ahead. 

For  most  privates  and  leaders  the  greatest  single 
opportunity  to  help  after-the-war  is  by  way  of  the 
nation's  greatest  single  need,  namely,  straight  think- 
ing about  the  work  which  the  war  will  leave  to  be 
done. 

The  need  for  straight  thinking  was  paramount  be- 
fore the  war  but  it  was  not  so  clearly  understood;  it 
is  when  the  machine  breaks  down  that  private  and 
specialist  concentrate  attention  upon  its  parts. 

Normal  forces  have  temporarily  been  checked. 

Hardly  one  single  activity  has  been  unchanged. 

Private   and   corporate   rapacity   has   in   some   in- 


27O  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

stances  been  given  rein  and  must  be  put  back  in  its 
place;  in  other  instances  rapacity  has  been  tempora- 
rily checked  and  will  break  out  again  with  renewed 
vigour  as  soon  as  war-time  restrictions  and  compul- 
sions have  been  removed. 

Troublesome  questions,  unnumbered,  remain  to  be 
threshed  out.  Progress  such  as  man  has  not  yet  con- 
ceived will  be  within  reach  if  we  take  the  best  of 
several  offerings  and  avoid  such  mistakes  as  followed 
our  Civil  War.  Every  patriot  will  be  tempted  to  look 
back  rather  than  ahead,  and  to  live  all  over  again 
the  issues  and  emotions  of  world  conflict,  when  in- 
stead his  energy  will  be  sorely  needed  for  solving  new 
problems. 

.War  fortunes  will  start  a  new  moneyed  aristocracy. 

Many  leaders  in  war  work  will  be  asked  to  con- 
tinue leading,  or  will  expect  to  continue  leading,  in 
other  causes  for  which  they  will  often  be  little  equipped 
or  only  equipped  to  lead  backward. 

Corporations  of  capital  and  labour  seeking  either 
favourable  legislation,  increases  in  rates,  removal  of 
restrictions  or  of  special  burdens,  etc.,  will  trade  upon 
their  war-time  patriotism  in  later  appeals  for  public 
concessions.  Their  pleadings  will  not  be  self-evident 
but  will  require  challenge  and  analysis. 

There  are  other  diseases  besides  trench  diseases  and 
sex  diseases  which  war  breeds  to  menace  posterity. 
No  war-bred  and  war-fostered  disease  has  such  ter- 


l'avenir  est  magnifique  271 

rible  capacity  for  crippling  and  sapping  Democracy's 
strength  as  has  the  many-sided  disease  which  some- 
times breaks  out  in  demands  for  undemocratic  censor- 
ship of  news  and  cable  and  speech,  and  at  other  times 
manifests  itself  by  intimidation  of  the  minority  by  a 
majority  or  even  intimidation  of  the  majority  by  a 
small  and  active  minority. 

The  greatest  of  all  dangers  is  that  the  people  at 
large  will  not  read  correctly  what  is  happening  before 
their  very  eyes.  To  the  extent  that  we  read  care- 
fully what  is  happening  before  the  war  ends,  may  we 
hope  to  read  carefully  what  will  happen  after  the  war 
ends.  For  example,  only  by  understanding  the  ease 
with  which  we  are  raising  billions  for  war  purposes 
can  we  after-the-war  find  it  easy  enough  to  raise  other 
billions  for  equalizing  opportunity  through  better 
schools,  better  housing,  better  health,  better  labour 
conditions,  and  better  control  of  distribution  and  recre- 
ation. 

In  the  memory  of  men  now  living  and  of  their  chil- 
dren, this  war  will  be  the  greatest  event  and  the  great- 
est idea  displayable  in  one  word.  It  is  important 
that  we  learn  to  think  straight  about  its  significance. 
We  cannot  afford  to  have  our  children  and  our  chil- 
dren's children  struggling  to  earn  the  glories  which 
the  future  offers  with  visions  that  are  blinded  by 
half-truths  and  untruths. 

Instead  of  imposing  restrictions  upon  straight  think- 


2J2  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

ing  the  exigencies  of  war  impose  on  each  of  us  un- 
escapable  obligations  to  use  every  power  within  us  to 
see  straight  and  to  keep  our  patriotism  suffused  with 
the  light  of  sincerity. 

Finding  the  money  to  pay  war  taxes;  foregoing 
profits;  sacrificing  comforts  and  necessities;  fighting  in 
European  trenches,  on  American  warships  or  from 
American  airships;  and  sending  our  boys  and  girls 
to  do  this  righting  and  to  heal  the  wounded,  are 
easier  tasks  physically  and  spiritually  than  to  face 
clearly  and  fearlessly  the  numerous  controversial  ques- 
tions which  will  divide  our  leaders  and  our  followers 
the  minute  the  unifying  force  of  war  requirements  is 
removed  by  peace. 

Last  week  a  French  cousin's  letter  told  of  seeing  a 
battle  from  a  hill  near  Verdun  where  every  movement 
and  every  shot  was  so  distinct  that  he  almost  forgot 
that  he  was  a  participant  whose  life  and  country  were 
at  stake  in  that  battle.  He  expressed  the  hope  that  he 
might  some  day  in  the  same  detached  way  see  an  open 
field  battle  of  hand  to  hand  combat  with  men  and 
horses  in  the  melee.  Similarly  we  American  partici- 
pants in  revolutions  and  battles  of  forces  more  por- 
tentous than  any  physical  combat,  will  discover  thrills 
of  enjoyment  after  we  have  learned  to  look  at  the 
public  mind  and  public  action  from  the  elevation  of 
events-analysis. 

The  least  patriotic  thing  any  one  of  us  can  do  is 


L  AVENIR   EST    MAGNIFIQUE  273 

to  accept  for  himself  without  analysis  the  explanation, 
the  can'ts  and  don'ts  and  musts  which  may  be  put 
out  by  official  or  unofficial  leaders  for  public  consump- 
tion. 

It  is  a  sham  patriotism  that  condones  a  truth-dis- 
torting Fourth  of  July  appeal  to  American  pride  and 
gratitude  for  an  alleged  sea-fight  victory  or  mislead- 
ing publicity  about  war  or  peace  at  any  time. 

It  is  blind  patriotism  which  fails  to  see  that  the  civil 
service  functionary  in  democratic  France  was  before 
the  war  depleting  the  vitality  and  limiting  the  liberty 
of  the  French  people  quite  as  dramatically  as  the  pres- 
ent world-hated  German  autocracy  was  crippling  in- 
dividual initiative  among  the  German  people. 

It  is  dangerous  patriotism  that  shuts  its  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  the  statesmen  of  democratic  Britain  failed 
to  tell  Germany  in  time,  out  loud  and  unmistakably, 
that  Britain  would  spend  her  last  dollar  to  protect 
Belgium's  neutrality. 

And  what  an  anaemic  patriotism  is  it  that  considers 
a  man  who  goes  to  war  at  his  country's  call  in  spite 
of  thorough  disbelief  in  that  call  less  patriotic  than 
another  man  who  frankly  says  he  goes  because  he 
wants  war,  personal  participation  in  it,  and  perhaps 
personal  honours  from  it ! 

Failure  to  think  straight  about  war  questions  has 
set  loose  forces  in  this  country  which  are  worse  than 
poisoned  springs  because  they  have  led  millions  of  us 


274  UNIVERSAL   TRAINING 

to  delegate  to  others  the  most  priceless  gift  of  Democ- 
racy, namely,  independence  of  thought.  Dependent 
thinking  means  crooked  thinking.  It  is  tragic  to  think 
how  near  the  American  people  came  to  passing  laws 
that  for  the  period  of  a  war  whose  continuance  de- 
pends upon  other  nations,  would  have  prevented  frank 
American  discussion  of  American  conduct  and  Ameri- 
can officers. 

The  future  which  we  want  to  deserve  calls  upon  us, 
young  and  old  alike,  to  do  our  own  thinking  and  to 
do  it  straight.  We  may  make  mistakes;  we  have  a 
right  to  make  mistakes;  but  we  have  no  right  to 
anaemic,  vicarious,  dependent,  crooked  thinking  about 
patriotism. 

L'avenir  est  magnifique. 

The  future  of  American  Democracy  has  its  price 
and  its  conditions,  as  well  as  its  rewards.  To  meet 
those  conditions  and  to  earn  our  share  of  that  future's 
rewards  requires  that  each  of  us  shall  prove  his  title 
clear  to  American  citizenship  by  learning  and  liking 
and  living  the  arts  of  public  service. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  44, 

Accounting,  see  Professions ; 
for  homes,  205;  a  sample 
form,  210. 

After  training,  of  public  serv- 
ants, 182-200;  in  school  field, 
185 ;  suggestion  boxes  needed, 
198;  of  parents,  201-229. 

Akron  Municipal  University, 
in. 

American  Commonwealth,  34. 

Art,  taught  at  schools,  232-234; 
at  Graphic  Sketch  Club,  233 ; 
often  mistaught,  237 ;  teach- 
ing the  greatest,  237;  learn- 
ing by  doing,  238. 

Average,  dangerous,  180. 

B 

Boise  City,  Idaho,  157. 

Bridgeport,  Conn.,  schools,  157. 

Bruere,  Henry,  183. 

Bryce,  James,  34,  47,  58. 

Budgets,  should  provide  for 
analysis  of  results,  80;  state, 
study,  186;  Ohio's  budget 
school,  187 ;  for  homes,  205, 
208-213 ;  a  sample  form,  210. 

Burbank,  Luther,  32,  244. 

Business  doctors,  194. 


Cabot,  Richard  C,  216,  223. 


275 


Carnegie,  Andrew,  37,  257,  258 ; 
Foundation,  86,  196. 

Character,  progress  chart,  55, 
70;  tested  by  work,  65;  anal- 
ysis for  parenthood,  219;  for 
the  reader,  264. 

Chicago,  Community  Trust,  86; 
School  of  Civics,  136;  merit 
test  for  librarian,  156. 

Cincinnati  Women's  City  Club, 
136;  co-operative  plan,  158, 
172. 

City  managers,  convention,  192. 

Civics,  via  real  work,  67;  via 
self-government,  67 ;  via  min- 
imum essentials,  yy;  prepares 
for  civil  service,  151 ;  in- 
cludes manners,  227. 

Civic  work,  political  parties, 
80;  training  for  volunteer, 
84-114;  dangers,  101 ;  leaders 
trained,  125-144;  self  analy- 
sis, form,  267. 

Civil  service,  145-163;  reform, 
146;  teachers  all  citizens, 
150;  self-analysis  form,  268. 

Clarion,  Pa.,  55. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  146. 

Cleveland,  O.,  Foundation,  86; 
school  survey,  91;  College 
for  Teachers,  188;  high 
school  practical  teaching,  208. 

Columbia  University,  138,  172. 

Commencement  Day,  1-3,  15. 

Community  chores,  for  chil- 
dren, give  training,  65;  must 


276 


INDEX 


be  mobilized,  66;  illustra- 
tions, 66-77,  248. 

Community  needs,  lists  needed, 
248. 

Complaint  and  suggestion  box, 
197. 

Connecticut,  trade  training,  66. 

Continuation  instruction,  71 ; 
civics  in,  J7 ;  in  citizenship, 
116;  for  civic  leaders,  135; 
by  government  employes, 
182-200;  for  parents,  201- 
229;  should  seek  special 
gifts,  235. 

Convention,  as  after  trainer, 
192 ;  public  entitled  to  specific 
benefits,  193. 

Cooke,  Morris  Llewellyn,  195. 

Correspondence  courses,  for 
civic  leadership,  141 ;  as 
after-training,  190;  by  cen- 
tral bureaus,  194. 

Cost  of  Living,  The,  209. 

Cox,  James  M.,  186. 


D 


Dartmouth,  199. 

Democracy,  1,  3,  5,  9;  requires 
understanding,  108 ;  strikes 
of  public  servants  indefens- 
ible, 162;  and  lawyers,  170; 
requires  public  minded  pro- 
fessions, 181 ;  same  gospel  of 
wealth  for  all  incomes,  259; 
strength  sapped  by  wrong 
censorship,  271. 

Denver,  Taxpayers  League,  91. 

Detroit,  Gov'tal  Research,  90. 

Development  department,  6b, 
62. 

Drillmasters,  training  for,  115- 
124;  self-analysis  forms,  268. 


Dunwoody  Institute,  86. 
E 

Elections,  call  for  preparedness, 
18,  28;  and  straight  thinking, 
46-50;  pre-election  publicity, 
81 ;  between  election  educa- 
tion, 81 ;  debts,  182. 

Eliot,  Charles  W.,  23. 

Employment  bureaus,  three 
ends,  68. 

English,  teaching,  71. 

Engineer :  see  Professions. 

Engineers,  American  Institute, 
169. 

Evening  Post,  N.  Y.,  14. 


Field  training,  for  and  in  one's 
job,  57,  60,  62-74,  71,  J7;  for 
leadership  via  teaching,  118; 
for  civic  leadership,  133 ; 
places  for,  136;  benefits  com- 
munities, 140;  for  civil  serv- 
ice, 151,  153;  town  chores, 
157;  for  public  service  in 
Wisconsin,  158;  for  library 
work,  159,  172;  helps  com- 
munities, 159;  lacking  for 
professions,  165 ;  test  for 
professions,  171 ;  of  civil 
servants  in  service,  182-200; 
for  budget-making,  186. 

Fitchburg,  Mass.,  157. 

Fleischer,  Samuel  S.,  233. 

Foods,  investigation  of  bread 
cost,  no;  practical  teaching, 
206,  208;  waste,  209. 

Ford  Motor  Company,  259. 

Foundations,  subsidize  educa- 
tional work,  64 ;  civic  respon- 


INDEX 


277 


sibilities,    86;     tax    country, 
89;    vs.    spending    and    serv- 
ing   through    business    need, 
252. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  22. 

G 

Gary  school,  50,  51. 

Gifted,  specially,  230-261 ;  spe- 
cial gifts  sometimes  handi- 
cap, 232;  five  special  gifts, 
239;  ungifted  furnish  oppor- 
tunity for  gifted,  248. 

Giving,  two  ideals,  252;  crea- 
tive, 253-261. 

Goldwater,  Dr.  S.  S.,  75. 

Government,  wastes,  18,  27; 
franchises  given  away,  28; 
needs  preparedness,  28; 
knowledge  of,  a  minimum  es- 
sential, 38,  76;  anecdote  of 
courage,  46;  imaginative  use 
of  vacancies,  63 ;  a  labora- 
tory, 68;  publicity,  80;  aided 
by  civic  agencies,  84-118; 
Pip  pa  Passes  lesson,  in; 
needs  efficient  drillmasters  in 
business,  1 17-124;  civil  serv- 
ice, 145-163;  professions 
should  know,  177;  after- 
training,  182-197;  depart- 
mental conferences,  191 ;  in- 
ter-town conferences,  191 ; 
should  educate  employes, 
193 ;  national  departments 
give  local  help,  194;  perma- 
nent tenure  undesirable,  198; 
should  cure  love  for  ruts, 
200;  should  seek  special 
gifts,  238;  motive,  to  please 
the  governed,  244;  after-the- 
war,  needs  straight  thinking, 
262-274. 


Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  118. 
Graphic  Sketch  Club,  233. 

H 

Habits,  see  Minimum  essentials. 

Harriman,  E.  H.,  37. 

Harvard,  175. 

High  Spots  in  New  York 
Schools,  72,  73,  97,  215,  224, 
225. 

Hill,  J.  J.,  37,  118. 

Holidays,  for  training,  42. 

Household  arts,  205. 

Hughes,  Charles  E.,  108. 

Hygiene,  vaccination,  18;  in- 
fants saved,  24;  at  Panama, 
25 ;  the  sick  teach  lessons, 
35;  daily  routine,  72,  73,  75; 
knowledge,  an  essential,  74; 
sanitary  working  conditions 
a  right,  75;  field  work,  77; 
in  civics  class,  151 ;  field 
work,  158;  baby  saving,  201 ; 
industrial,  as  investment,  258. 

Hugo,  Victor,  262. 

Hutchinson,  Woods,  199. 


Idealism,  2,  16,  262-274. 

111.  Efficiency  Commission,  199. 

Immigrants,  idealize  America, 
19 ;  respond  to  public  service 
appeals,  40 ;  after-training, 
42;  must  read,  43;  citizen- 
ship tests,  78;  great  teachabil- 
ity, 229. 

Industrial  Relations  Com.,  257. 

Infant,  mortality,  24;  training, 
35;  paralysis  epidemic,  140; 
lowered   by   instruction,   201. 


278 


INDEX 


Institute    for    Public    Service, 
49,  109,  136. 


Jackson,  Tenn.,  91. 
L 

Labour,  stronger  when  pre- 
pared, 25;  turnover,  26;  read- 
ing increases  efficiency,  44; 
fit  for  job,  56;  needs  scien- 
tific management,  59;  should 
favour  practical  school  work, 
66;  three  purposes  of  em- 
ployment bureau,  68. 

Lawyers,  see  Professions. 

Leadership  needed,  84-114,  125- 
144,  230  ff. ;  demand  for  lead- 
ers, growing,  135;  self-anal- 
ysis forms,  268. 

Learning  by  doing,  see  Field 
training;  at  school,  in  house- 
hold arts,  206 ;  art  and  music, 
238. 

Liberty  Bonds,  8,  10,  II,  244. 

Library  training,  159,  172. 

Little  Rock,  Ark.,  157. 

Lough,  James  E.,  187. 

Lowell,  A.  Lawrence,  82. 

M 

McCormick  Foundation,  86. 

Manners,  Arista  League,  97; 
essentials  for  parenthood, 
205 ;  Americans  are  bunglers, 
223;  taught  at  school,  224; 
California's  course  of  study, 
226 ;  Mt.  Vernon  schools,  227. 

Marks,  Marcus  M.,  191. 

Military  training,  universal,  15, 


30;  will  be  unpopular,  20; 
why  acceptable,  34;  demo- 
cratic, 37;  compulsory,  when 
menaces,  39;  and  holidays, 
42;  needs  drillmasters,  115; 
war  time  recognition  of  dif- 
ferences, 231. 

Minimum  essentials,  training 
for  citizenship,  36;  for  pri- 
vates, 37-83 ;  looking  to  gov- 
ernment, 109;  for  civil  serv- 
ice, 152,  160;  for  citizens, 
straight  thinking  on  civil 
service,  162 ;  minimum  essen- 
tials of  training,  170;  about 
infant  life,  201;  for  parent- 
hood and  citizenship,  205 ;  32 
for  sewing,  206;  for  parents, 
201-229;  self-analysis  form, 
266. 

Minority,  patriotic  when  frank, 
11,  12. 

Ministers,  see  Professions. 

Mitchel,  John  Purroy,  no,  182. 

Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y.,  227. 

Music,  often  a  handicap,  232; 
better  teaching  needed,  236; 
learning  by  doing,  238 ;  cause 
of  higher  prices  for  artists, 
242. 


N 


National  Children's  Bureau, 
202. 

Nat'l  Ed.  Assoc,  64. 

New  Haven,  civics,  92. 

Newspapers,  patriotism,  9,  n ; 
train  citizens,  32;  and 
straight  thinking,  47-49;  edu- 
cate officers,  195 ;  tell  com- 
munity needs,  249;  publish 
benevolences,  256. 


INDEX 


279 


N.  Y.  City,  board  of  educa- 
tion, employment  bureau,  69; 
school,  daily  inspection,  72; 
health  dep't,  75;  school  in- 
quiry, 91;  railroad  issue,  92; 
longshoremen's  conditions, 
report  on,  104;  civic  agencies 
a  political  issue,  106;  re- 
port criticizing  schools,  107 ; 
borough  president  removed, 
108;  "big  brother,"  120; 
West  Side  plan,  136;  par- 
tisan appointments,  182;  de- 
partmental conferences,  191 ; 
campaign  analyses,  196;  stale 
bread  waste,  209. 

New  York  University,  187. 

Nichols,  E.  F.,  199. 

No  Matter  Who's  Elected,  48. 

Northwestern  Univ.,  172. 


Parenthood,  specialized  train- 
ing, 201-229;  self-analysis 
forms,  269. 

Patriotism,  3,  15 ;  needs  train- 
ing, 15,  16 ;  a  menace,  16-21 ; 
no  respecter  of  jobs,  56; 
self-analysis  form,  266;  re- 
quires straight  thinking,  272 ; 
when   dangerous,  273. 

Personality,  elements  for  pri- 
vates, 37-83 ;  tested  by  teach- 
ing, 115-124;  posture  penal- 
ties, 188;  needed  for  profes- 
sions, 171;  tested  by  field 
work,  173;  children's  ana- 
lysed by  parents,  220;  teacher 
chart,  221;  as  special  gift, 
needs  training  for  public 
service,  239,  243;  self-analy- 
sis form,  266. 


Philanthropy,  two  ideals,  252- 
261. 

Physical  training,  for  parent- 
hood, 213-216;  school  stand- 
ards, "]2. 

Physicians,  see  Professions. 

Pippa  Passes,  111-115. 

Pork  barrels,  18. 

Political  parties,  criticize  gov- 
ernment, 80;  are  civic  work- 
ers, 85. 

Portland,  Ore.,  141. 

Posture,  at  school,  72,  74,  75. 

Professions,  require  teaching 
qualities,  119;  training  for, 
164-181 ;  self-analysis  forms, 
268. 

Promotion,  60,  63;  in  industry 
promotes  citizenship,  64;  via 
self-analysis,  68. 

Publicity,  of  government  acts, 
79 ;  pre-election,  81 ;  educates 
officers,  195;  for  community 
needs,  249. 

Public  service  motive,  mini- 
mum essential,  38;  appeals  to 
immigrants,  40;  in  private 
schools,  41 ;  for  professions, 
164-181;  for  specially  gifted, 
230-261 ;  after-the-war,  273. 


R 


Recreation,    for    parents,    216; 

reading  the  chief  form,  218. 
Reporting,  minimum  essentials, 

80;  annual,  197. 
Researchers,  convention,  182. 
Richards,  Ellen,  209. 
Ricketts,  L.  D.,  168. 
Rockefeller,    John    D.,    37,   86, 

257,  258. 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  95,  243. 


280 


INDEX 


Root,  Elihu,  169,  181. 
Rutherford,  J.  W.,  55. 
Russell  Sage  Foundation,  86. 


Saturday  Evening  Post,  60. 

Schools,  commencement,  I ; 
war  activities,  9,  10;  high 
schools  needed,  33 ;  public 
service  motives,  40;  patriotic 
text -books,  40;  private,  must 
be  patriotic,  41 ;  learn  from 
business,  44;  pupil  progress 
card,  55 ;  promotions,  63 ; 
train  via  real  work,  65,  77 ; 
gardens,  66;  civics  via  real 
work,  67 ;  self-government, 
67;  teacher's  efficiency,  70; 
hygiene  routine,  72 ;  teach 
government,  77;  teach  man- 
ners, 98,  99,  224,  226;  help 
food  administrators,  no; 
train  leaders,  118;  "big 
brothering,"  120;  Ohio  sur- 
vey, 140;  outside  co-opera- 
tion with,  141 ;  and  civil 
service,  151 ;  sacrificed  for 
degrees,  154;  useless  examin- 
ations, 155 ;  learning  by  do- 
ing, instances,  157;  should 
prepare  for  public  service, 
159-161 ;  to  teach  needs  of 
professions,  171 ;  as  labora- 
tories, 172;  task  tests,  175; 
fallacy  of  60%  passing  mark, 
175;  after-training,  185;  for 
firemen,  and  policemen,  187; 
conferences  of  teachers,  191 ; 
school  service  bureau,  195; 
publicity  is  schooling,  195 ; 
train  for  parenthood,  204; 
teach    household    arts,    206 ; 


give  physical  training,  213; 
train  for  recreation,  216; 
how  to  get  money,  216;  fac- 
tor child  difficulties  and  char- 
acter, 219;  teach  sex  health, 
220;  try  to  discover  special 
gifts,  232,  235;  credit  for 
home  work,  236;  list  needs, 

249. 

Scientific  management,  58;  pa- 
triotic, 59;  in  civic  bodies, 
131;  for  civil  service,  163; 
in  publicity,  195;  for  charac- 
ter, 220 ;  teacher  personality 
chart,  221 ;  in  self-analysis, 
268-269. 

Self-government,  trains  pupils 
in  citizenship,  67 ;  trains 
leaders,  120. 

Self-study  by  civil  service  em- 
ployes, 187;  analysis  forms 
for  readers,  266. 

Sex  health,  instruction,  205, 
220;  through  healthy  recrea- 
tion, 223. 

Shaw,  Bernard,  13,  244. 

Sousa,  Philip,  249. 

Specially  gifted,  for  public 
service,  230-261 ;  self-analy- 
sis forms,  268. 

State  department  of  education, 
need  correspondence  courses, 
190;  Wisconsin's  school  serv- 
ice bureau,  195. 

Statisticians,  see  Professions. 

Straight  thinking,  patriotic 
duty,  12;  needs  preparedness, 
28;  minimum  essential,  38, 
44-56;  needs  ability  to  read, 
43 ;  at  elections,  46-50 ; 
school  slogan,  50;  seven 
steps,  52;  encouraged  at 
school,    75 ;    field    work    in, 


INDEX 


28l 


77;  in  civic  work,  95;  of  fol- 
lowers, affects  leaders,  144; 
self-analysis  form,  267 ;  chief 
after-the-war  need,  271 ; 
priceless  gift,  274. 

Standardization,  see  Scientific 
management;  dreaded  by 
some,  16;  of  infant  care,  202. 

Supervision,  learning  how  to 
be  supervised,  188. 

Surveys,  see  Civic  work. 


Teachers,  help  pupils,  3;  war 
activities,  9,  10;  efficiency 
card,  70;  training  for,  115- 
124;  teaching  unpopular, 
122;  teacherages,  206. 

Technical  schools,  168. 

Tenure,  fallacy  of  permanent, 
198. 

Trustees,  efficiency  affected  by 
follower's  expectations,  144. 

Twain,  Mark,  32. 

U 

Universal  training,  possible, 
30-36;  elements,  34;  should 
be  democratic,  35. 

Universities,  1 ;  promotions, 
64;  of  Michigan,  136;  of 
Chicago,  142;  factory  classes, 
158;  public  service  training, 
158;  and  professions,  164- 
181;  municipal,  160;  mislead- 
ing averages,  180;  courses 
for  civil  servants,  187;  vs. 
political  service,  189;  give 
correspondence  courses,  190; 
vs.    conventions,    192;    other 


objects  of  giving,  compete 
with,  252-261. 
Unpreparedness,  menace,  16- 
21 ;  cost,  22-29 ;  government 
wastes,  27;  labour  suffers, 
60;  self-analysis  form,  266. 


Voice,  efficiency  elements,  221 ; 

affects  success,  68. 
Volunteer    civic    work,   83-114, 

125-144;    self-analysis    form, 

267. 
Voter,  tests,  78;  see  Elections. 

W 

War  of  1914,  3,  5-15;  instances 
of  unpreparedness,  17 ; 
teaches  lessons,  21;  needless 
costs,  22,  25;  recognizes 
equality  of  services,  56;  ad- 
vertising needs,  80;  conscrip- 
tion standards,  231;  the  fu- 
ture's opportunities,  262-274; 
after-the-war  citizenship, 

self-analysis  forms,  269. 

Waste,  of  unpreparedness,  16- 
2i,  22-29;  in  government,  af- 
fects war  efficiency,  149;  and 
wrong  statistics,  179;  of 
food,  209. 

Wealth,  a  special  gift,  246 ;  two 
competing  ideals  of  steward- 
ship, 252. 

Williams,  Arthur,  59. 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  118,  246. 

Woman,  see  Topics  —  Citizen- 
ship and  public  service 
should   not   segregate   sexes. 

Wooley,  Edward  Mott,  60. 


Young,  Ella  Flagg,  205. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


T 


HE  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of  a  few 
of  the  Macmillan  books  on  kindred  subjects. 


You  Are  the  Hope  of 
the  World 

Decorated  boards,  50  centt. 

An  Appeal  to  the  Girls 
and    Boys    of    America 

By  HERMANN  HAGEDORN 

"Addressed  to  the  girls  and  boys  of  America,  this  little 
book  should  likewise  be  read  by  all  their  fathers  and 
mothers." 

—  From  Colonel  Theodore  Roosevelt's 
Fourth  of  July  Oration. 

"A  lofty  purpose  has  animated  Mr.  Hagedorn  in  his 
exhortation  of  young  America." 

—  New  York  Evening  Mail. 

"There  is  inspiration  for  boys  and  girls  in  Mr.  Hage- 
dorn's  book.  If  every  public  school  child  ten  years  old 
and  over  were  compelled  to  read  it  the  prospects  are  that 
it  would  bear  fruit  in  better  conditions  in  the  future." 

—  Philadelphia  Ledger. 


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The  Youth  and  the  Nation 

By  HARRY  H.  MOORE 

Illustrated,   cloth,   umo,  $1.25. 

"If  we  are  to  make  headway  against  the  social  evils  which 
threaten  the  nation,  we  must  enlist  the  youth.  .  .  .  This  book  is  an 
attempt  to  arouse  a  wholesome  interest  among  young  men  and  older 
boys  of  college  and  high  school  age  in  modern  social  evils,  to  show 
them  how  men  have  combatted  these  evils,  and  to  suggest  vocational 
opportunities  in  the  warfare  against  them." — From  the  Preface. 

The  Youth  and  the  Nation  brings  together  the  vocational  expe- 
riences of  some  of  the  leaders  in  various  lines  of  work.  It  is  a 
volume  eminently  fitted  to  fire  the  ambition  of  the  high-minded 
youth,  and  to  idealize  for  him  the  eternal  war  against  disease, 
economic  injustice  and  man's  inhumanity  to  man. 

"  A  very  useful  volume  in  the  hands  of  workers  with  older  boys 
and  young  men.  The  combination  of  vocational  information  and  a 
plea  for  social  uplift,  has  in  this  volume  been  effectively  worked  out. 
It  is  the  best  presentation  I  have  yet  seen  intended  for  the  guidance 
of  boys  into  the  altruistic  professions." — Clarence  C.  KobinsojT, 
International  Secretary  for  Employed  Boys,   Y.  M.  C.  A. 

"  I  am  confident  that  the  book  will  help  high  school  boys  and  I 
hope  it  will  have  a  wide  circulation. — George  E.  Vincent,  President, 
University  of  Minnesota. 

"  This  book  strikes  me  as  a  really  excellent  thing  for  boys." — 
Walter  Lippman,  Editorial  Staff,  The  New  Republic. 

"  Mr.  Moore's  first  book,  Keeping  in  Condition,  strikes  the  very 
heart  of  the  problem  of  adolescence;  his  new  book  will,  I  believe, 
bear  as  potent  a  message  to  older  boys  looking  out  on  the  world  of 
social  relations.  I  wish  all  boys  might  read  these  books  at  the  fit 
time.  I  know  of  nothing  to  equal  them. — Edward  O.  Sisson,  Com- 
missioner of  Education  of  Idaho. 

"  This  book  forcibly  awakened  me  to  the  fact  that  there  are  other 
worlds  than  my  own.  It  cleared  up  as  nothing  else  had  ever  done 
the  puzzling  question  'What  am  I  to  choose  for  my  life  work?'  " — 
A  High  School  Senior. 

"Mr.  Moore's  book  brings,  with  a  certain  warm  attractiveness,  a 
vision  of  the  real  meanings  of  life  which  every  youth  inwardly 
hungers  for  but  which  unfortunately  is  too  rarely  given  him." — 
William  Flogburn,  Professor  of  Sociology,  Reed  College. 


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Machine  Gun  Practice 
and  Tactics 

For  Officers,  N.  C.  O's  and  Men 

By  Lieut.  K.  B.  McKELLAR 
Canadian  Machine  Gun  Service 

Cloth,  i6mo,  go  cents 

The  author  of  this  book  has  been  at  the  front  during 
the  past  three  years  instructing  men  for  active  service  in 
the  present  war.  The  methods  of  organization  of  Machine 
Gun  Units  and  the  sequence  of  training  set  forth  embody 
the  results  of  this  valuable  experience. 

CONTENTS 

Objects   and    Outline   of   Training. 

Organization  and   Equipment  of  Machine  Gun  Service. 

Characteristics  of  the  Machine  Gun. 

Allocation  of  Duties. 

Brief  Vocabulary  of  Military  Terms. 

Visual  Training  and  Judging  Distance. 

Indication  and   Recognition  of  Targets. 

Theory  of  Machine  Gun  Fire. 

Fire  Direction. 

Combined   Sights  and  Vertical  Searching. 

Fire  Orders  and  Signals. 

Night  Firing. 

Overhead  Fire. 

Indirect  Fire. 

Range  Cards. 

The  Occupation  of  Various  Positions  by  Machine  Gun*. 

Machine  Guns  in  Open  Warfare. 

Machine  Gun  Trench  Warfare. 

Machine  Gun  Field  Works. 

Organization  and  Duties  in  Trenches. 

Taking  Over  Trenches. 

The  Attack. 

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War  French 


By  CORNELIUS  DeWITT  WILLCOX 

Colonel,    U.    S.    Army,    Professor   of   Modern    Languages 

United  States  Military  Academy,  West  Point,  New  York. 

Cloth,  240,  x  +  196  pp.,  $.75 

From  the  Preface:  Our  officers  and  men,  under  inten- 
sive training  for  the  war,  will  have  but  little  time  to  make 
a  formal  study  of  French.  This  little  book  has  accord- 
ingly been  written  in  the  belief  that  it  may  help  them  to 
some  knowledge  of  that  language.  It  is  not  intended  as 
a  short  cut :  no  such  thing  exists.  But  between  total 
ignorance  of  French  and  such  acquaintance  with  it  as 
may  follow  from  the  study  of  the  following  pages,  there 
is  a  great  difference,  useful  both  to  the  Government  and 
to  our  armies.  It  is  believed  that  any  person  of  intelligence, 
and  of  resolution,  can  master  what  is  here  given. 

CONTENTS 

PART  I 
The  French  Language 

CHAPTER 

I  France 

II  The  French  Language 

III  Pronunciation 

IV  Gender  of   Nouns 
V  The  Article 

VI  Plurals  and  Feminines 

VII  Pronouns 

VIII  The  Verb 

IX  Some  Remarks  on  the  Verb 

X  Vocabularies  and   Conversations 

XI  Correspondence 

PART  II 

The  French  Army 
I     The  Army 
II     Officers 
III     Vocabularies  and  Conversations 

PART  III 
Passages  for  Translation  into  English 

Passages   for   Translations 
I     French-English  Vocabulary 
II     English-French  Vocabulary 


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The  American  World  Policies 

By  WALTER  E.  WEYL 
Author  of  "The  New  Democracy" 

Cloth,  12  ,  $2.25 

The  United  States  is  deeply  concerned  with  the  peace 
which  is  to  be  made  in  Europe,  and  with  the  Great  Society 
to  be  re-constituted  after  the  war.  With  world  influence  come 
new  responsibilities,  opportunities  and  dangers.  The  book 
relates  our  foreign  policy  to  our  internal  problems,  to  the 
clash  of  industrial  classes  and  of  political  parties,  to  the 
decay  of  sectionalism  and  the  slow  growth  of  a  national 
sense.  It  is  a  study  of  "Americanism"  from  without  and 
within. 

An  Inquiry  Into  the  Nature  of  Peace 
and  the  Terms  of  Its  Perpetuation 

By  THORSTEIN  VEBLEN 

Author   of   "The   Theory   of   the   Leisure   Class,"    "Imperial 
Germany  and  the  Industrial  Revolution,"  "The 
Instinct  of  Workmanship,"  etc. 

Cloth,  i2tno,  $2.00 

Professor  Veblen's  new  book,  "The  Nature  of  Peace,"  is  a 
close  analysis  of  war  and  the  basis  of  peace.  It  is  of  special 
interest  just  now  on  account  of  its  insistence  upon  the  abso- 
lute destruction  of  the  German  Imperial  State  as  the  only 
assurance  of  a  permanent  peace.  The  ideals  towards  which 
civilization  is  moving  make  the  elimination  of  the  dynastic 
powers  absolutely  necessary.  "The  new  situation,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Veblen,  "requires  the  putting  away  of  the  German  Im- 
perial establishment  and  the  military  caste;  the  reduction  of 
the  German  peoples  to  a  footing  of  unreserved  democracy." 

Readers  of  Professor  Veblen's  other  books  will  welcome 
this  new  volume  which  is  written  in  his  usual  suggestive  and 
convincing  manner. 


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